


I Don't Think So

by elvirakitties



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst and Humor, Bad Dumbledore, Bottom Lucius Malfoy, Bottom Severus Snape, Bottom Tom Riddle, Creature Fic, Forced Bonding, Good Severus Snape, M/M, Manipulative Dumbledore, Smart Harry, Top Harry Potter, Top Tom Riddle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2018-05-23 04:24:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 40,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6104819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elvirakitties/pseuds/elvirakitties
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Take a dose of manipulative Dumbledore, a fed up Harry, mix and watch come back the results.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Games Begin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ' thoughts  
> " speaking  
> ~ parseltongue

Harry was sitting in Dumbledore's office waiting for the man to arrive. This annoyed him greatly, he gets called into the office and has to sit and wait for him to show up, why call him if he isn't going to be here. This is the fifth time in five weeks he has done it to him. He thought of ignoring the summons next time. He also hoped it's wasn't going to be a "let's learn about Tom" session. He had a headache as it was. He was about to leave when the Headmaster finally entered. 

"My boy, I am sorry, I got held up. Lemon drop?"

"No, thank you. Why am I here?" Harry asked calmly.

"I have something that I need to tell you about, you see after Sirius died, we discovered a Marriage Contract."

'That is a lie' Harry thought, as he knew when he went to the bank not even two weeks ago that there wasn't a Marriage Contract, he had specifically asked that question. He had used a weekend to get everything done. He had had them check through everything, even did an Inheritance Test, he got healed and they found the Horcrux, he left it in his head. "Really? For whom?" He asked calmly, much calmer than he was feeling, who knew Occlumency would be such a great benefit, now that he could actually understand the skill.

"Why between you and Professor Snape, it was arranged a long time ago, your parents set it up to protect you." The man's eyes were twinkling.

'Another lie' he wondered if the man can even tell the truth. "So if I don't marry Snape?" His parents didn't set up anything, they barely left a Will and it was sealed up until a month ago.

"Professor Snape, Harry."

"Yes, I can see that working when we are married." He was trying not to lose control but the man is just pushing it.

"Now, Harry, if you don't marry him, you will lose your magic."

"Does Snape?"

"Professor Snape and no."

'Another lie' if the marriage contract was valid he knew they both would lose their magic if they didn't marry, so was definitely not a valid contract, he wondered what is going on exactly. "When is this to happen?"

"Why in a few hours, we thought it was best to get this over with."

"Who is we?"

"The Weasley family, Miss Granger and I, of course."

'Yes, all your little thieves and you, why I am not surprised?' "Is Snape aware of this?"

"Professor Snape and no, I will inform him in a little while. He, of course, will be thrilled as you are about it. I know."

"I am not thrilled as you put it." 

"It will work out for the best Harry." Harry caught a thought in Dumbledore's mind 'and when you are a widower, and we kill you after you kill Tom, we will be rich.' "Now why don't you go to the Tower and get ready."

Harry nodded and got up and headed to the Tower, he ignored everyone, he did wonder where the Weasleys and Granger were but realized that they must be down in the Hall getting it ready. He went straight to his trunk, removed his cloak, shrunk his trunk and left the tower. He headed straight for the Chamber of Secrets. He had been working on cleaning it and it was now livable. He sold the Basilisk over the summer and that money was in a hidden vault that Dumbledore had no clue about. He also didn't know that Harry knew about the other vaults and had them sealed shut. He wondered what the old man would do when he found out about it.

He went into the bedroom he had set up and removed his trunk from his pocket and enlarged it. He wondered if he could try that new spell and go invisible to the Great Hall and see the chaos that would happen when they realized he wasn't there, and he thought of a better idea. 

He knew no one knew of his Animagus forms and grinned. Yes, he will be attending this farce. He left the Chamber, and in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, asked Myrtle to do her usual guarding and changed into one of his forms. He had his parsel form, a King Cobra snake, his creature inheritance form, which was a Mngwa, he could use that to turn into a small kitten or if he wanted to be a little bit showy he could use his Phoenix form, thanks to the Phoenix Tears in his system. He decided to flash into the room in his Ice Phoenix form and once there change into his kitten form and now he could hide that way. If anyone made a big deal he could always flash out in any form he was in. He also knew in his kitten form, "Revealo" won't work if someone decided to see if he is an Animagus.

He landed in the Great Hall and hid up behind one of the banners and changed into his kitten form and got comfortable and watched them get the Hall ready. He took a nap while he was waiting and woke up when he heard Severus' "well let's get this over with, I do have things I want to get done with tonight."

"The Minister should be here soon, Hermione and Ron are getting Harry. I sent him up to the tower to get ready. I had Ginny make sure to follow him, and that was where he was a few hours ago." Dumbledore informed him.

"Of course, the great Mr. Potter can't be here in time for his own bonding." Severus snarled. He noticed the man was dressed in his usual teaching robes. The man really was making the same effort Harry would have made.

'If you only knew' Harry thought from his perch. He did wonder what was going to happen when they realized he wasn't around.

He saw Minister Fudge arrive with his bodyguards and one of them was Kingsley Shacklebolt, they were all chatting as Ginny and Ron Weasley, with Granger, ran into the Great Hall. "10 points each for running from Gryffindor." Some things never change.

"Harry, he's gone." Ginny managed to tell them, gasping for breath. Harry thought witches and wizards needed to exercise more.

"What do you mean gone, Ginny?" Dumbledore was trying to not panic.

"He isn't in the tower and his stuff is gone." She was huffing each word out. 

Harry was looking at Severus and noticed the man smirk but it was quickly covered. So the man must know it's not a valid contract too. "Severus stay here, we will go and look for him." Dumbledore didn't want Severus to escape.

Harry made his way down to the floor and slowly inched his way toward Severus and sat by his feet. He almost smirked when Severus finally noticed him sitting at his feet. Severus moved away and Harry followed him. The man's eyes narrow and he moved again, Harry did the same thing. "Revealo" Severus said and nothing happened. "I don't like cats." He moved away again and Harry followed him, by now Severus knew there was something up and picked the kitten up. "You know it's a lie?" He asked quietly, making sure no one was near them.

Harry nodded his head 'yes'. 

"Smarter than I thought you were. I am going to put you in my robe pocket, do stay quiet." For that, he got a look that clearly said 'I am not stupid'. "We will talk when I get us back to my quarters." He slipped Harry into his pocket.

Severus was sitting on one of the guest chairs, ignoring everyone. Dumbledore finally came back into the Hall. "I am afraid, we are going to be delayed for a bit, we need to find Harry, we can't seem to locate him in the Castle and the wards haven't said he has left."

"He could be in the ROR." Granger said, having followed Dumbledore into the Hall.

"I believe Ronald is checking that now." Dumbledore told her, "we will have him here shortly." 

"The elves?" Minerva was wondering what is going on.

"They are also looking for him." Dumbledore informed them.

Severus sat for another hour and finally got up. "Come and get me when you have found the boy. I will be in my lab." He left the Hall, ignoring all the people calling him back and made his way to his quarters. Once there he pulled a sleeping Harry out of his pocket.

"I know you can't transform back or they will find you so I will ask simple yes or no questions." He put Harry on his desk.

"I am taking it you didn't know about this contract?"

Harry shook his head 'no'.

"It's not a valid one is it?"

Again he got a 'no'.

"I had wondered about that, it appeared to be too sudden. Do you know why it's not valid?"

Harry nodded his head.

"So that is why you are hiding, you know it's not valid, so we can't lose our magic."

He nodded his head again.

"Is there a place for us to talk without you being found?"

Harry nodded his head 'yes' and transformed into a King Cobra, he lets out a few hisses.

Severus jumped back in surprise and when he recovered he asked "Chamber?" 

The snake raised its tail and waved it up and down. 

"Can you go back to your kitten form?" Harry changed back. "May we get there later without being seen?" Again, he got a yes.

"It will take a few hours before we can do that, so do you mind if I do some potions?" 

Harry jumped off of the desk and headed to Severus' lab and stood by the door. "I am not letting you in there, you are a natural disaster in a lab." Severus earned a few well-placed hisses at that and Harry raised his paws and climbed up Severus' pants. Severus reached down and removed Harry's claws from his pants. "Fine." He entered the lab and put Harry down. "I am making some Pepper-Up Potions." He watched as Harry went to his potion cabinet and began to bring him what he needed, one item at a time. He looked confused as he knew he hasn't opened the recipe yet. "You know what is needed?"

He got a 'yes'

"The O you got on your OWLs wasn't just a fluke?"

He got a 'no'

"How come you do so bad in my classroom." He watched as Harry used the seeds to spell out Granger and Malfoy.

"Essays?"

Harry pointed to Granger.

"I do believe we will be needing to have a long talk." Again, he got 'yes'.

They spend the next few hours working on potions and Severus was ladling the last of it when his floo chimed. He finished, picked up Harry and put him in his pocket. "Severus, I am not sure what is going on but we can't find Harry at all."

"He hasn't left the wards? Are you sure?"

"Yes, of course, I made sure to adjust them before I told Harry about the contract. I didn't want to take the chance he would run and lose his magic." 

Severus felt Harry shake his head and wondered what that is about. "I see, and how are we going to make sure I don't lose my magic if we can't find the boy?"

"As I told Harry, you won't. It's part of the contract."

'That is weird, it can't be part of the contract' and he realized that was what Harry meant, he knew the contract wasn't valid because they would lose their magic if the contract wasn't fulfilled. The boy was smarter than he thought. "I see, and why do I need to do this? You also should have told me, I would have told you flat out I wasn't going to marry the boy."

"Severus, you don't want him to lose his magic, do you? You know how important he is in defeating Tom."

"What do you expect me to do? You can't find him and I really don't want to get married to him."

"I am hoping we can find him over the next few days, he is here somewhere, we just need to locate him."

"Have you used any tracking charms? Locating spells? The elves have any luck?"

"We have tried the charms and spells and the elves can't find him either."

"I would tell you that the boy isn't in the Castle." 

"He has to be."

"Really? What is telling you that he is? Because everything you have just told me is saying that he isn't. Is the Minister still here? Maybe he can see if the boy has used his wand." 'Anything to get you out of my floo.' 

"Minister Fudge left a while ago, and there is nothing telling me that Harry is still here. I will go to the Ministry in the morning and see about his wand."

"Goodnight Albus." He cut the man off and closed his floo. "Well, kitten, are you ready?"

Harry climbed out of his pocket and worked his way up to his shoulder, once there he transformed into his Phoenix form. Severus remarked, "no wonder you can get around." They are flashed down to the Chamber. Once they land, Harry flew away and changed into his human self. 

"Hello Professor." Harry told him. "Come let's go and get comfortable." He lead him over to the sitting area.

"I believe you have some explaining to do." 

"Most likely, and you won't enjoy it either. It's not too long of an explanation." Harry gave him a small smile. "Kreacher."

Kreacher appeared. "Master Kitten?"

"Kreacher can we get some tea and an update on what is happening?"

"Sure." Kreacher snapped his fingers and tea appeared. "I had it ready and waiting for you. Cracker is going nuts. So is Voice, she is upset that you were getting married to Smells and not Trashy like she was promised. Moron Twins were the ones who made that contract and signed it as you and they acted as witnesses, it was done this morning in Cracker's office. Wolfboy knew and didn't care. Red Twins not happy about what happened, Cat didn't know but Reds they say they are going to talk to her. Book moron tried to crack your vault passwords when it failed they got to the idea of his marriage contract. They figured you both would be dead after the final battle. Can't Decide knew too and doesn't care, she is trying to still get into Wolfboy pants."

Harry snickered. "Dung?"

"Caught him with the silver, he won't be touching it again, gave him a nice shock treatment." 

"Thank you, Kreacher keep an ear and eye open on those clowns."

"Will do, Master Kitten." Kreacher popped away.

"I am going to need you to translate what he said."

"OK Crackers is short for his cheese slide off of the cracker, that is Dumbledore. Voice is Molly Weasley, can't stand her voice, it is grating, Trash is Ginny, I think you know why, Moron Twins are Ron and Hermione, Wolfboy I am sure you figured out is Lupin, Red Twins is Fred and George, Can't Decide is Tonks. Kreacher calls you Smells, something about lavender the day we created the names."

"The names sure fit."

"Yes, Kreacher and I came up with a few good ones, Black, we left as Mutt, we liked that one."

"I thought you loved that Mutt."

"Please, he was so far up Dumbledore's backside, I wondered if he knew when Dumbledore was a quart low on his donkey shit meter."

"How long?" Severus tried not to laugh at that.

"How long have I known about his lies and misdirections? Since my first year, you don't burn a man to death with the power of love, you also don't send a child after a Troll by using a compulsion spell, though that did take me a while to realize what happened. You also don't send a child back to an abusive home, especially when their letter was addressed to the "cupboard under the stairs" and tell everyone he was treated like a Prince. I heard him tell you and McGonagall that there wasn't nothing wrong with me and that my relatives treated me like a Prince."

"What relatives did he put you with?"

"My Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon."

"PETUNIA?" Severus snarled, all of his loathing and hatred of her coming out. He wanted to kill the man. He knew the old coot knew Petunia hated magic.

"I take it you know her?" Harry asked calmly.

"I know her from when we were children. Those images last year, during our lessons, the ones who tried so hard to hide, I saw some flashes, they didn't make sense but now they do."

"One of the many reasons why those lessons failed."

"You know why they failed? I think that needs explaining."

"Blood Quill, lack of sleep, visions, nightmares, and your lessons on top of it, with me trying to keep you from seeing those images. I was lucky to get an hour sleep every three days."

Severus looked at him. "The detentions with Umbridge? The Blood Quill rumor was true?"

"Very true." Harry held up his hand and Severus could the scars. 

"I can heal those."

"I can do it now that no one will notice." Harry replied. "The reason for my Phoenix form is I have Phoenix tears in my blood."

"Second year?"

"Yes, and Basilisk blood and being a parseltongue allowed for the snake form. When my relatives killed me over the summer, it released my creature inheritance, I am a Mngwa, hence I can be a kitten. Now my true Animagus form is really the fun one, it's a Pegasus."

"They killed you? No one noticed that they killed you." Severus was trying to recover from that. "I am not familiar with a Mngwa." He buried his rage and focused on what he could do now. He looked at Harry and he realized that Harry accepted that his relatives could care less about him. He wanted to kill Albus for that alone.

Harry summoned a book to him and flipped through the pages. He handed it to Severus who read the page. 'Mngwa (the strange one) or Nunda is a gigantic, ferocious, dark gray or black nocturnal feline about "the size of a donkey," Severus read and looked up. "May I see this form?" 

"Yes." Harry changed into a Mngwa and Severus looked surprised to see a deadlier bigger version of his kitten form.

Severus continued reading. 'William Hichens, a British Muggle administrator, reported that several people were attacked by this overly aggressive animal. He thought it to be a giant, man-eating lion that was responsible, but both fur samples and tracks were different from those of a lion. The Mngwa was also described to have brindled fur that was visibly different from that of a leopard. This feline was so strong and ferocious that it could kill a person with a single bite or strike of its paws. It is mightier than the powerful lion, faster and deadlier than a leopard. No one has ever survived an attack or successfully captured this beast. It is said no one has been able to ever kill a Mngwa, a team of over 100 wizards was found with their bodies strewn about clutching tufts of hair, they were killed with either one swipe of their razor-sharp claws or their throats ripped out with one bite of their deadly teeth. No one in the Ministry has tried to hunt a Mngwa since. It is called a great grey ghost for it's silent but deadly night attacks. A Mngwa doesn't have a large core of magic, it's is believed the core of magic allows for the silent approach at night.' Severus patted Harry's head and Harry turned back to human. "If they couldn't kill a squib version of you, they have no chance against a full wizard Mngwa do they?"

"No. There is a lot of things we will need to discover, some I already have the answers to and have learned them over the years, some I am hoping you can provide."

"I can't stay down here, we are going to have to figure out how to work this. We can use your Phoenix form to come and go out of here, but your kitten form? Will it grow? I know I cast a Revealo on you and it didn't work, is there any spell that will force a change?"

"I have grown a little bit, I just discovered the kitten form a few weeks ago, it took me a while to figure out what was going on and how to switch my forms. Revealo and other spells haven't worked yet, so I don't think so."

"You will have to pretend to be my familiar until we can figure everything out. I really don't want to have to deal with that farce that Dumbledore is trying to make us do."

"I don't either, and I am not worried about it since it's not a valid contract. He can't make one either, since I am Lord Black, and in the family charter no one can make a marriage contract for a Black without the Lord's permission. I became an adult when my relatives killed me and I got my creature inheritance. I would have been one when I hit 16 because of the creature inheritance."

"That helps a lot." Severus said. "Where are you going to be sleeping?"

"Down here, behind that statue is a bedroom. I just finished it. I was going to hide here when the idiot was going to demand I start Horcrux hunting."

"Horcrux?"

"Yes, I am one. The diary in my second year was one. The Slytherin Locket I found in Headquarters was another, and he found Ravenclaw Diadem last week in the ROR. Now based on what Dumbledore thinks I don't know, there are another three out. I believe Nagini is one since I saw the Ministry and Arthur Weasley's attack through her eyes, she felt familiar like a Horcrux does. That leaves two to find. Now, the good news is each time one is destroyed, his Darkness there gets that part of his soul back."

"Which explains why he isn't as insane as he was when he first returned or all those years ago."

"Correct. Slughorn was the one to give him the book on Horcruxes."

"Slughorn? That doesn't make any sense."

"You know the man? He seems like an idiot to me, keeps trying to be my friend. Reminds me of Lockhart."

"Yes, he can't even do his Mastery because he is too busy collecting famous people I can't imagine him knowing about Horcruxes. He is really a very naive man."

"Unless Dumbledore put him up to it, why else bring the man here when he is going to start pushing me to hunt them?"

"You sure he is going to make you hunt them?"

"Yes, and he has an idea of you "killing" him this year, well everyone will believe you killed him but he is going to fake his death. You will be forced back to his Darkness. He believes Darkness there will kill you, leaving me a widower and when I die in the final battle, they will get your titles and mine, along with our money."

"How do you know that?"

"He doesn't protect his mind when he meets with me. He thinks I can't read the surface thoughts that go through his head, that is how I have known for a few years what is going on. I didn't know what it was called until last year. Information like that is hard to find when you have no idea where to look."

"The money from me would be from my family and my potion patterns, between the both of us they would be very rich."

"My seats would make it impossible for anyone to oppose him too."

They look at each other, they smirk. "Tom." Harry told him and Severus nodded his head in agreement.


	2. What To Do, What To Do.

"I don't believe I need a complete recap of your years here but I do have some questions." Severus looked around the room and noticed it has been separated into sections but it was clean, neat, and orderly.

"Ask away, if I have an answer, I will give it." Harry was getting comfortable in his chair. He brought in comfortable furniture, it might not all match but it was comfortable. Some of the other pieces he had repaired with spells.

"You said Granger and Malfoy are the reason for your potions issues, I have seen Draco and others toss stuff into your cauldron, I couldn't do anything about them because I have been afraid it would get back to Him and cause me problems. I do not understand Granger."

"Miss Know-It-All is a huge problem, until I got all the damage repaired this summer from my new form, I really couldn't cut or dice anything very well, so I always had to use other things to help fix my mistakes, she would have a fit if I tried it, correcting my mistakes as she called them or going so far as to gather the ingredients and if I went to get the stuff I needed to fix things, she would stop me, earning me your attention and a detention because of it, she would hit me for getting a detention and the point loss. Now my essays I always did them, but she would "correct" them and the areas she correct are the ones you a great time with using the red ink of yours. She did that with all my homework, it would get me so mad, but nothing I could do because of Dumbledore. I know my writing wasn't great, but it wasn't until I went through her trunk at the beginning of the school year this year that I found books that were given to a muggle-born. The books showed how to write with a quill, basic potion information, basic wizard information that I never got." He paused, "I didn't even get the sex education class notes, books, or anything."

Severus looked at him for a few seconds. "So if I added a pinch of asp venom to Death-Cap Draught, what would you need to fix it."

"Did you miss the 8 counterclockwise stirs?" Harry was going to enjoy this, he hoped they could do this a lot. He enjoyed Potions.

"No, and I added the correct number of doxie wings."

"You would use a dash of frog's liver, finely ground with a sprig of mint."

Severus leaned back in his chair. "How?" The boy surprised him. He wasn't expecting that. He began to make a mental list of things he would need to review.

"It's like cooking, my relatives made me cook all of their meals, not that they let me eat mind you, but I learned to fix my mistakes or my Uncle would use it as an excuse to punish me."

"So he is just like Petunia?"

"Worse, she will aim to hit me with a frying pan, he would keep doing it until he does connect with me. Usually using his belt buckle."

"Glamours?" He wondered what else he had missed in his loathing of James Potter.

"Since my first year. I couldn't figure out how to change my height or general looks without someone saying anything, so I just covered the scars."

"May I see?" 

"They are almost all gone but sure." Harry removed his shirt and Severus tried not to gasp, the boy's chest and back are littered with scars and if that is an improvement, he was glad he hadn't see what he looked like before, he felt sick as it was. "Each time I use my Phoenix form, more and more gets fixed." Harry put his shirt back on and sat down again.

"You will be using it a lot I believe for the rest of the year."

"Yes. I am hoping you can help me with my education. I have all of the books but will need someone to make sure I am doing things correctly. I have reread them a few times and practiced the spells and charms."

Severus stood up and began to look around at the books lining the shelves and books were everywhere. "Have you read these?" Some titles he couldn't read, he thought they were in parsel while others were in foreign languages he recognized.

"Most of them, a lot of them are in parsel, so I can work on translating them if you are interested in the potion books. The Latin, French, and Spanish ones are easy to read, most of them are some great building blocks for spell creations."

Severus turned so fast he thought he might have broken his legs. "I would be very interested."

Harry walked over the desk in the corner and picked up two books. "Here are two that I have finished translating. It took a while, as I kept writing in parsel for a bit, but I finally got it."

Severus looked through the two books as he sat down. Harry, he saw had grabbed a book. "We still need to talk more." He put down the books. 

"You were asking questions." Harry said letting him know he was willing to talk, he just needed to have the questions. 

"This plan he has about me killing him, does it have to do with the Horcruxes?"

"I think so, I am not sure on that, he hasn't given that away as of yet. However, I am wondering how he expects it to work? How can you kill him and he fake his death at the same time?"

"I am not sure, not without knowing all the details of the plan. There are a few different potions and spells that can help with that, but it would involve knowing what is going to happen for me to figure out what is going to do."

"He wanted me to go out and hunt for one later this week, he mentioned something about a trip. I am not sure where or what it was going to be for."

"What can destroy a Horcrux?"

"There is a ritual, it is the one he is using, he just doesn't realize he is giving Tom back his soul pieces and I am not going to be telling him, also Basilisk venom. I have some stored over with my potion ingredients, along with skin, blood, heartstrings, meat, and other parts. I believe we can have fun experimenting with them." 

Severus gave him one of his rare pure smiles of enjoyment at that idea. "I believe I am willing to help you out with everything if I can use those Basilisk parts."

"I wasn't going to bribe you, if you wanted to use them, you could have. While the hat may have wanted to put me in Slytherin, I do not view everything as a need to bargain in exchange for something like your skills."

"You were to be in Slytherin?"

"Yes, you really didn't think I could hide all these years without a mask?" Harry asked him.

"No, I am just a little overwhelmed. It's not every day you get told you have to marry, find out it's an invalid contract, learn one of your worse students in potions isn't, the same student has multiple forms he can use, and well I won't touch on what you have told me about Albus. We still need to talk about you being killed by your relatives."

Harry just shrugged. "I would have told you sooner, but you do hate me, I am not sure why you are helping me now."

"I don't hate you, I never have. I had to be mean to you because of my role, granted I did go too far at times, but your rule breaking and favoritism infuriated me."

"Well, I wasn't exactly doing those things because I wanted to. Granger and Weasley, they wanted to, but then again they have been being paid by him to "help" me on my adventures. It's all in the name of keeping a Gryffindor image for the Boy-Who-Lived. Those compulsion charms were starting to piss me off. In my fourth-year was most free of the compulsions, but they started up again last year, earning me all those lovely detentions with that pink toad. Don't even get me started on the potions I had in me and spells. The goblins have all of that on file for when I take them down."

"I had wondered why you seemed different at times. I didn't think they were giving you potions, the spells I am not sure how I could have detected those without being seen."

"Poppy tried to help, but Dumbledore would toss out a memory charm on her, if he didn't know right away, Granger and Weasley would tell him. Dumbledore restrain me and give me the potions again, he would memory charm me, after telling me "it is for the greater good, my boy". I started mimicking the effects after I got some nice jewelry to help control some of it during my fifth year. It wasn't until my relatives killed me and I woke up as a cat that I was able to get away. I am still wondering how he covered that up."

"How would he have known?"

"The silver things in his office, one monitors my health, the other monitors the wards, not sure what the third one does. So when I died and left my relatives loving care, I know they had to be going off. Not to mention the people who watched the house, they knew I was being abused and didn't do a thing."

"Let me guess, Lupin, Tonks, and Dung?"

"Doge, Jones and Diggle too. The Weasley also know, however, the Twins, Bill, and Charlie have tried to help but can't do much." 

"I know over the summer we meet almost weekly, sometimes more, but nothing was ever said about you being gone."

"I was on the train, but Granger and Weasley did the whole, "we had a great summer how about you?" routine." 

"What are you planning on doing?" 

"Revenge, they have been getting money from my vaults, that ended this year, the money got returned, along with my books and other items. I am wondering how he explained all of that to his group of traitors. I think that is why he tried this contract. The goblins were a huge help in getting everything done."

"The Dark Lord?"

"I am not sure, with his sanity being returned he hasn't been killing and seems to be working on getting our world back on course."

"I agree, the problem is how do we stop him from coming after you?"

"I was thinking of talking to him. That prophecy is done. It was fulfilled when I was a child. Dumbledore is using it to keep control of our world. He is using everyone's fear and my name to do it."

Severus thought for a few minutes. "I believe we can get him to listen to you and without him hurting us."

"How?"

"Phoenix form and your Mngwa form. If you flash us there when he does the next meeting and I arrive with you in your full Mngwa form, he might just listen."

"Won't he just Crucio you for arriving with me?"

"I think it will be enough of a shock he won't. He will know what you are, that man has a vast knowledge regarding magic, more than anyone I have ever seen."

"True, but I think it might be better if we don't do it during a meeting, he might view it as a threat to him."

"Tomorrow night?"

"That sounds good. I will gather the books on Horcruxes to show him what happened too, I don't think he realized exactly what would happen when he did those rituals because the books I found were only down here and based on how hard it was to get in here, I don't think he did. I had to use my Phoenix form originally. The snakes I talked to afterward never mentioned seeing him."

"Snakes?"

"The ones on the doors, the statues." 

"Your snake form, may I get ingredients from it? King Cobras have strong venom and their skin is good for a lot of potions."

"Yes."

"Potter, I am not sure how we will get him for doing this, but I will help you in any way I can."

"I am not going to have you use that Vow that you made because of my mother and that joke of a Headmaster."

"I made it, and I take it seriously but I don't enjoy being used and I am not happy with what I have learned."

"You have also kept your Vow, I am thinking you most likely wondered what was going on as I was growing up and during the summer as I am sure you felt the pull of magic."

"I did, but I have so many marks and bonds, I wasn't sure what it was exactly."

Harry went over to him and laid his hand on his arm, Severus felt Harry's magic flow into him and suddenly he was falling to the ground as he heard loud snaps and pain. Harry held onto him the whole time and when it was done, Harry smiled. "Now you only have his mark and that won't be there for long. That life debt is also gone." 

"How?"

"Hidden skills and power. There is a lot I have been hiding, some of it is the skills and power I get from my various forms, some of it is just stuff I learned from the Chamber. That life debt was also invalid. I don't understand why you accepted it."

"Guilt from Dumbledore and a few unlining threats were tossed in a well."

"That will do it, he is good at making you think you are guilty for something when you aren't. That is how he got me to return to my relatives over the years, he used my mother's sacrifice."

"I have a class first period in the morning, are you going to be there?"

"I will go to your class, but stay hidden, I don't want them to wonder why you suddenly have a kitten and I have disappeared, so I will wait a few days before I appear to others. It will also give us some time to get things settled with the Dark Lord."

Severus nodded his agreement. "Can you bring me back to my quarters?"

He watched as Harry turned into an icy blue Phoenix with darker blue feather tips, he landed on Severus' shoulder. "My living area is good enough." 

They flashed into his quarters and Severus saw a message waiting for him. "I have a message from the Headmaster." He opened it and sighed in relief. "He believes I was in my lab, but he says that he wants to talk to me tomorrow. I think he is going to have me look for you." 

Harry nodded his head. 

"Can you spy in his office?" Harry sang his answer. "I don't understand Phoenix."

Harry bit him, sang again, and Severus understood now as he heard, "I can, Fawkes knows about me, he and the Sorting Hat have been helping me out over the summer."

"You just became my familiar."

"No, normally that would do it, but you see it doesn't work that way on Phoenixes, we select who we want to hear us, I always could talk to Fawkes even before I got the tears in my blood." Harry sang.

"Wait, I have an idea, they won't think you are a Phoenix, even if you showed up as a Mngwa or Pegasus, no one believes you can turn into a magical Animagus. If you flashed to me tomorrow it would confuse everyone, as many believe I am a true Death Eater, while others believe I am a spy."

"Do you want to have your snakes doubt you?"

"An Ice Phoenix is the opposite of a Fire Phoenix, while Fawkes is Light, you are Dark, only those in the Dark would know that it's a tightly guarded secret."

"Wouldn't Dumbledore know?"

"No, he believes all Phoenixes are good. I have heard that speech enough from him." 

"It would cause some confusion and if someone gets the idea to cast a Revealio on me, nothing would happen." Harry told him. "I, however, feel better with going with the kitten idea, we don't need a Phoenix showing up suddenly, maybe later in the year to add to the confusion."

"It would create more confusion if we do the kitten and Phoenix, and maybe after we talk to the Dark Lord and know what he has planned we can go from there." Severus began to think about what they could do.

"He will have plans, I didn't think of that, he usually does have a few going." Harry sang. Harry rubbed his head over Severus' fingers, Severus started to pet him. 

"I get up at 6 AM, I work out then head to breakfast." 

"I know, I have seen you running around the lake, it is what gave me the idea to start doing it a few years ago, I am amazed at the number of wizards and witches that are out of shape."

"It's the reason why they don't do so well in duels, no stamina."

"I will join you at breakfast, I will just appear in your pocket, if you could grab me some food, it would help me as I don't want to call a house elf we know is missing a few marbles. Kreacher can't disappear too often with Molly and the others staying at the house, I would rather have him listen to them."

"A few?" Severus paused for a second, "can Kreacher block off rooms?"

"He has been."

"The potion lab in the basement and the Black Library have some very illegal items."

"Yes, I already have them down in the Chamber."

Severus rubbed Harry under the chin. "Go and get some sleep, I am thinking tomorrow is going to be a long day." Harry flashed out and Severus looked again at the note from Dumbledore, yes it's time for the man to get some justice dished out to him.


	3. Visiting Tom

Severus had Harry in his pocket for the whole day, he fed him food during meals and when no one was around he would pull him out of his pocket and asked him yes and no questions. Harry slept during most of the classes. Severus was heading, feeling finally free, to his quarters when he saw Dumbledore heading towards him. "Severus I was looking for you."

"Amazing, you found me." Severus remarked. "I was just heading to my quarters." Indicating his door. 

"Can you follow me to my office?" Dumbledore didn't wait for an answer and started to walk to his office.

Severus wanted to curse the man but he followed, wondering what it could possibly be about. He got to the gargoyle and glared at it, he refused to say the ridiculous password, he had no idea what cotton candy was, but he wasn't going to find out. He was about to leave when the gargoyle moved and he was able to ride the steps to the door. 

"Come in, Severus. Sit, lemon drop?"

"No." He sat in the ugliest chair he had ever seen. He wondered if the man was color-blind. 

He looked at Fawkes who began to sing, "the man is going to drive you crazy. So Harry told you, good, he needed someone." Fawkes landed on his shoulder. "He is going to try to con you into something." 

"We are having a problem locating Harry, his wand hasn't been used for a few days." 

"He is lying, the wand hasn't been used in months, he just doesn't want to believe it." Fawkes informed him. "Don't worry he has no idea what I am saying. I just sing at times to drive him nuts." 

Severus wondered about that as they have been back for almost two months. "Days?" He tried not to look too closely at Fawkes, but he did put his hand up and pet him.

"Yes, at first we thought the trace might have been removed, but when we checked it was still there. I have tried numerous tracking charms and nothing is working."

"He even tried some illegal ones. Hypocrite." Fawkes sang to Severus.

"I don't understand what this has to do with me."

"I am hoping you might be able to aid us by keeping making sure no Death Eater have taken Harry."

"When exactly would they have done this?" 

"I am not sure if it has occurred as of yet, but he has to be behind wards right now. So it is just a matter of time before he comes out from behind them and they could capture him."

"I thought you said you adjusted the wards." 

"I did, but Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley informed me, he knows ways out of here that I do not believe are covered by the wards."

"He knows no Death Eaters has the boy, he just wants to try and guilt you into looking for Harry." Fawkes informed him. "He still thinks he will find him in the wards, despite what he has been told."

Any doubt he ever had concerning the character of Granger and Weasley went out the window. "Ways out of here?"

"Yes, it seems there are tunnels and I believe Harry used one of them to leave, he could have run into a Death Eater while escaping for all we know."

"He can really dish it can't he?" Fawkes told him.

"I am sure if the Death Eaters had him, I would have been summoned, you know he would want to brag, drag it out, make us all listen to him prattle on. He loves to talk, loves the sound of his own voice and loves to make a show, you know that." He can feel Harry shaking and he knew Harry was laughing, he also knew Fawkes was laughing as the bird had his head buried under his wing.

"Will you keep an eye out for Harry, just in case they do have him?" 

"I won't break my Vow. Now, I was going to go out tonight and gather some ingredients, is there anything else?"

"We will be having a meeting later."

"No there isn't, he just made that up." Fawkes told him. "I wonder if Pomona comes to him when it's time to fertilize the greenhouses."

"To cover what we just covered?" Severus was so thankful for his shield because he knew he would have laughed at that.

"I am sure we will have more information."

"You know how I feel about that. If you have new information I will be there, but I don't want to waste my time rehashing the same information, and if you had dragged me there tonight to listen to this tripe, I would have been upset with you. You know there are only certain times you can collect ingredients." 

"I can give you some feathers and tears later. It will make a good contrast to Harry's." Fawkes told him. "I will see you down in the chamber after you visit Tom. Don't worry about the Fashion Mishap. I am sure he will try to con someone into looking for Harry." He flew back to his perch and sang for a few minutes. "I going to drive him crazy, not like that is a long drive."

Severus got up as he closed the door behind him, a smile broke out on his face. He headed to his quarters and pulled Harry out of his pocket who transformed into a Phoenix. "I don't think I was expecting that from Fawkes." 

"Try listening to him when you are a first-year." Harry sang to him. "We ready to head out?"

"Yes. Can you find him?"

"I always know where Tom is." Harry flew to his shoulder and landed. "Hold on." He flashed them out to Tom. They landed in the Dark Lord's study. Severus wasn't sure who is more surprised Lucius or the Dark Lord. Severus went to bow and Harry let out a shriek and flew and landed on the Dark Lord's shoulder.

"Severus was that an Ice Phoenix on your shoulder?" Lucius asked.

"Yes, we needed to talk to the Dark Lord. It is something that couldn't wait."

The Dark Lord was looking at the Phoenix. "Why does this bird feel like Harry?"

Harry flew off of his shoulder and transformed into Harry. "Because it is me." Harry conjured two chairs and he sat down in one. "We have a lot to talk about." He snapped his fingers and tea appeared. "Tea?" He asked them.

"If you didn't feel like Harry's magic I would be wondering what is going on. I also have a feeling you know what is happening with certain items of mine?"

"Yes, it's because of Dumbledore, he has been destroying them, and before you get upset, read those." Harry tossed some books onto the man's desk. "It will explain why."

"I have an idea of what happened. Does it involve a certain ritual?"

"Very good, the man picks the one thing that helps, go figure." Harry told him. "Does anyone want tea?" He poured himself a cup and another, sending it to the Dark Lord. "So how do you feel about some revenge?" 

Lucius and Severus didn't even bother to answer they were too busy watching the interaction between Harry and the Dark Lord. 

"I would enjoy it."

"So would I, and I know exactly where we can start. However, that start is more for me, so it's debatable. Now, I can give you the Wizengamot. I can also show you how to take the Ministry while destroying our favorite Headmaster." Harry told him.

They watched the Dark Lord, he leaned towards Harry. "What makes you think I need your help? I am sure there is nothing you can provide me with."

"Are you sure? I know Lucius has been trying to be Chief Warlock for over eight years, I know there are a lot of laws that you want to have passed that have been pushed back or even outright vetoed. I know, well you get the idea. So if you don't wish to talk, well, I am sure I can make both of you miserable." Harry said.

"Are you threatening me?" The Dark Lord glared at him.

"Please, I don't need to threaten anything. I can guarantee it." Harry said and transformed into his Mngwa form, causing Lucius to jump out of his seat, as the Dark Lord reared away. Harry went back to his human form. "I see I have your attention."

"You're a Mngwa." The Dark Lord finally said. 

"Yes, my relatives gift to me this summer."

"The only way that can happen is-" The Dark Lord stopped realizing what happened. "Your revenge?"

"Part of it."

"The rest?"

"I have a select list of people I want to pay back for their betrayals, ending with Dumbledore." 

"What is your price?"

"You already know." 

"I do believe I do." The Dark Lord glanced over to Lucius and Severus and back to Harry. "You do realize you are going to have to prove yourself."

"No time like the present." Harry told him standing up. "Lead the way."

"Lucius, give me your arm." The Dark Lord demand. When Lucius held out his arm, he pressed the wand to his mark and summoned his followers. They watched Harry turn into a King Cobra. ~Well aren't you full of interesting surprises.~

~It gets better, Nagini is on the way, you might want to keep her from attacking me, even in this form my Mngwa form is the dominant form."

Nagini came into the room. ~Master, where is the intruder.~

~There isn't an intruder, it's Harry.~

~The other speaker? He is a snake.~

~No, he can transform into one. Say hi Harry.~

~Hi Nagini.~ Harry watched the snake come closer, they scented each other. 

~He is you.~

~I am like you Nagini, as you are like him.~

The Dark Lord can see Nagini process that and wondered how she would take it. ~I didn't know he was one.~ He reassured her after he himself recovered. He wasn't expecting a living Horcrux.

~You take care of the hatchling, he is powerful hatchling.~

They heard the sounds of apparitions and the Dark Lord bent down and picked Harry up and draped him over his neck. ~I hope you know what you are doing.~

~I am looking forward to this.~ Harry hissed.

~You might want to warn him not to kill those idiots.~ Nagini warned.

~They aren't idiots, they are my followers.~

~Why do you call them idiots?~ She questioned.

Harry tried not to laugh and ended up laughing so hard he almost slithered off of the Dark Lord.

~Do not repeat that I call them that Harry.~

~I will tell you later what he calls the others.~ Nagini was going to have fun conspiring with Harry.

~I am going to regret introducing the two of you aren't I?~

~Yes.~ They answered him. They entered the ballroom, where there was a throne and Lucius and Severus took their places, and they waited for the rest of the Elite arrive. ~Just spill it, Tom, they don't need to hear a speech.~ Nagini told him.

~Let me just duel and get it over with. I want to have some fun. Do you think they can provide me with some fun?~

The Dark Lord ignored them and started the meeting. "Severus was kind enough to bring us someone who claims that he can handle dueling all of you."

~You too.~

"All of us. If everyone will head to the dueling room." The Dark Lord was wondering what exactly Harry was thinking of wanting to duel them all. 

Once in the dueling room, when everyone was in place. Harry the snake looked around. ~Call it.~

~I am not going to start it while you are a snake.~

~I wanted to give everyone a fair chance but if you insist.~ Harry slithered down the Dark Lord and when he was coiled on the floor transformed into his Phoenix form and flew to the middle of the room and as he landed transformed into himself.

"Really Harry?" The Dark Lord asked.

"Told you I wanted some fun, so who is going to start it off or can we do it all of you against me?" Harry challenged. He saw Severus shake his head in denial. 

"All of us against you?" Bella asked.

"Yep, you up for it?" Harry retorted, popping the p. "I mean I know I am only 16 but I figure with all of you I might get a bit of exercise."

"Harry, I don't want to spend a month healing you." The Dark Lord told him. 

"I will make you a deal, I take all of them, and win, we deal, if I don't I will give you my information for free." Harry gave him a slight smirk.

"Very well. Bow and begin?"

"Bow and begin." Harry watched them all bow and as they rose from their bowing, Harry clapped his hands together, spread them apart, sending everyone but the Dark Lord flying into three of the walls, locking them in place. "Now it's between us." Harry summoned a quarterstaff, as he dodged a Cutting Curse and fired a quick Blasting Curse and took the Dark Lord's legs out from under him as he moved out of the way. Harry looked down at the Dark Lord who was on his back. "I believe I won."

The Dark Lord stood up. "Again."

The Elite watched for the next hour as time after time the Dark Lord was defeated. "Do you need a pain potion?" Harry asked him. "It's still early, I have no place to be." 

The Dark Lord stayed sitting on the floor. "I believe you are going to have to show me how you do that." 

"We can add that to the deal, do you wish me to release your followers?" He asked.

"If you would be so kind." The Dark Lord retorted. His ego was very bruised. He just got beat by a 16-year-old kid. 

Harry leaned down. "You are forgetting I am a Mngwa."

The Dark Lord closed his eyes as he tried to remember what he had read about those creatures. Harry could tell when he got to the part about how easy they can kill. "You knew."

"I did warn you."

"Yes, you did." The Dark Lord got up. He held out his hand and Severus handed him a pain potion. "Anything else you have been hiding?" 

"That is a trick question, define hiding?" Harry asked as they start to head out of the dueling room. They heard the murmurs of the Elite. 

"Severus, Lucius please join us in my study, the rest of you are dismissed." The Dark Lord order.


	4. Let's Make A Deal

Harry watched them take their previous seats but he was buzzing, he knew he needed to appear somewhat mature for their bargaining so he finally sat down. "I believe you have some information for me." The Dark Lord said.

"Deal first." Harry warmed up the tea and began to sip his. "Tea?" He asked the others. No one answered him.

"What do you want?"

"Want, what do I want? I want to see Dumbledore hanging from his beard in the Great Hall. I want to see Umbridge pay for what she did to me. I want to see Granger and some of the Weasley punished, I want, well you get the idea. I want revenge."

The Dark Lord looked at him for a few minutes. "You want something else."

"I want a lot of things, but that is what making this deal about. I know you want certain things that only I can deliver."

"Sure of that?"

"Very sure, I can deliver the Wizengamot to you, by the end of the day tomorrow. I can deliver the Ministry by the end of the school year, I plan on making it my end of school year event. I can get the wizarding world to loathe dear old Dumbledore."

"So you provide me with all that and I give you revenge."

"No, I can get revenge on my own, what I want from you is one, well, three things actually."

"What are these three things?"

~I want Severus. You can't hurt him, that is one. I want you to help me learn more advanced magic that the old fart has restricted, I will also have Severus teach me. Three, and it's a biggy, is that I want to rule with you. You keep your followers, I will bring my own. However, we talk about what our plans are. Personally I don't care if you destroy Muggles, however, I should warn you, you might want to research how more advanced they are.~

~If I give you Severus, I will still want him for making potions. Ruling, well, I don't share.~

~You will if you want to win. You see Tom, I can deliver what I promise or I can take it for myself. I just don't want to rule in that aspect, that is more your thing. I just refuse to answer to anyone.~

The Dark Lord leaned back in his chair, thinking. Severus and Lucius haven't stopped staring since they entered the Dark Lord's office again. Harry was just sipping his tea. ~I will do it if you become my consort.~

~I won't be bowing to you if anything you will become mine. Lucius too, I can smell you on each other. I don't share too well.~

~I don't share either, however, you will be mine.~ The Dark Lord glared at him. ~Lucius will remain mine.~

Harry laughed at him. ~Tom, there isn't anything you can do to stop me. I believe I already showed you I can handle you. I think you will find Lucius would like to be both of ours. Severus too.~

~I am not going to debate this with you.~

~Shame, I was hoping to work with you. Well, I'll see you I am sure.~ Harry got up and transformed into his Phoenix form "I will see you back at Hogwarts, Severus." He flashed out.

The Dark Lord was shocked. "Did he really just leave?"

"Yes, my Lord." Lucius answered, surprised by Harry just leaving.

"Severus tell me everything." The Dark Lord demanded.

"I believe you know more than I do, my Lord." Severus began telling the Dark Lord everything that happened in the last day, what he knew about Harry and the Chamber.

The Dark Lord got up. "He is sleeping in the Chamber?"

"Yes, my Lord."

"Come with me, we are going to be visiting our little surprise." The Dark Lord ordered. 

 

_________________________________________________________________________

They landed in the Forbidden Forest and the Dark Lord lead them away from Hogwarts towards the far east corner of the forest. He found a huge stone and whispered a command in parsel. The stone moved aside. Casting a Lumos, they made their way towards the Chamber. When they arrive, they found Harry sitting in a chair reading.

"Tea?" He asked, glancing up.

'He knew they were coming.' Severus tried not to smirk. Harry was full of surprises.

"You left." The Dark Lord said as he sat down.

"Nothing left to say, you made yourself clear. I don't see the sense in beating a dead unicorn." Harry told him.

"Harry." 

"Tom."

"Don't call me that, you know it annoys me."

"Does it? Really?"

"We weren't done."

"I believe you said you weren't willing to debate. That sounds like it was over to me." Harry reminded him.

"You are being impossible."

"Tom, how much time have we spent in each other's head?"

"Too long." The Dark Lord muttered.

Harry laughed. "Maybe that is so, but don't you think I learned a lot of things from you? You haven't even seen the library that is here. I have learned a lot of things using that library."

"What library?" 

"Secret." Harry told him.

"You plan on spending the winter down here?"

"Yes."

"How do you plan to stay warm. The floos here don't work."

"The ones that you know of." 

~Brat, we will make a deal. I will give you Severus, and I won't hurt him. I will be your consort and we will bring Lucius and Severus into the relationship.~

~Only if they want.~

~Fine. You deliver me the Wizengamot and Ministry. We will rule together, however, you will take that passive role you mentioned, but I do expect if I need your help you will.~

~I will always help. I just don't want to have a bunch of idiots around me all the time. I would kill them.~

~Deal?~

Harry leaned forward. ~You are forgetting something.~

~I have a feeling I will be learning from you based on tonight. You teach me some of your non-Mngwa skills and I will teach you anything you want as long as it's something I believe you can handle.~

~You know I was to be in Slytherin, do you really think I would accept you can handle aspect?~

~I had to try, fine, I will teach you anything Severus and I agree is something that will benefit you.~

~Try again.~

The Dark Lord let out a groan. "Must you be so difficult?"

"I believe Severus will tell you that is my specialty."

~We will teach you anything you want, subject to us debating the issue with you.~

~So mote it be.~

~So mote it be.~

"That was fun. I will make sure Lucius is Chief Warlock by tomorrow night. 6 PM will be the official change over of the title."

"How?" The Dark Lord asked.

"Secret."

"Harry." 

"Fine, my seats, the Potter, Black, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, yes, that is why you are still the heir, Ambrosius, and LeFay."

"That is 10 seats a piece for the founders, 12 for Ambrosius and 12 for LeFay, plus the Potters who have 6, Black has 8." Lucius stammered out. "He just gave us the Wizengamot."

"Told you." Harry smirked at them.

"That wouldn't give him control over the Wizengamot if he was on his own." Severus said.

"Yes, it would. The four founders, plus Merlin and Morgana seats would give him total control. The Chief Warlock position came about because there wasn't anyone at times to fill those seats or even one person with all those seats, much less the founders. Merlin and Morgana controlled the top tier, the founders the next tier, Chief Warlock and the Minority Leader the next, the Lords and Ladies are next, after that comes positions like the DMLE." Lucius explained.

"Biscuits?" Harry asked as he sipped his tea.

~You are full of surprises.~

~As much as it pains me to repeat myself, but I did tell you.~

~So you did. Do we need a bonding contract?~

~Do you think it's necessary?~

~Based on this, I am going to draw one up and make sure I don't come out on the short end like I feel I just did.~

~You still have to take care of Severus.~

"Severus has part of our deal, I am giving you to Harry."

"The rest Tom."

"I can't hurt you anymore either. Give me your arm."

"No, he will need that to keep Dumbledore happy. I don't want him hurt because of the old goat."

"He would." The Dark Lord said. "Fine, the mark will stay, we will need to discuss the changes later." ~I need to go and soak in a tub, thanks to you.~

~I had fun too.~

"Can you take us home?" The Dark Lord asked.

Harry changed into his Phoenix form. "Tell them to grab my tail feathers but don't pull. I will take you to your quarters when I get back, we have to talk."

"He said to grab his tail feathers but don't pull." Severus told them, trying to recover from being freed from the Dark Lord.


	5. Severus and Harry Team Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be revamped, to much is bothering me about it.---so be warned

Harry landed back in the chamber to see Severus sitting down. He shifted back into Harry. Severus looked at him closely. "You certainly pulled a few surprises. Do I want to know what else you bargained for?"

"Mainly you and dual control of the Dark. He will be submitting to me, so you don't have to worry about him, he can't hurt you." Harry said as he sat down. "There is more but I am afraid I am not sure if he will let me tell you that. However, we have to work on planning on when we want to bring me back into Hogwarts."

"I have been thinking of that, I was thinking of next month. It will give you plenty of time to take care of whatever we need to be taken care of without us having to worry about your making a kitten appearance. How are you going to fulfill your promise of giving the Dark Lord the Wizengamot by tomorrow?" Severus put his teacup down and looked at Harry closely.

"I will be doing it after we finish chatting." Harry answered him. "I will also make sure Harry Potter is seen in a few days in different places all over the United Kingdom and will keep that up until the end of the school year." Harry leaned back in his chair. "Are you going to be able to handle lying to him?"

"That is easy, I will just keep telling him I am following his leads with your help, of course, we will have to make sure no one else is checking on your sightings."

"I am going to making multiple appearances during the same day, just to make him crazy."

"Make him doubt the appearances, causing him to want to check out each one to see which one is real and using his own resources to try and find out which one is real?"

"Exactly, I will, of course, flash you to the sighting, so if someone is there they will see you checking it out. I will flash you back here, as soon as we are certain no one is looking to verify your appearance."

"That should work, we can also use Fawkes to let us know what is happening." Severus reminded him.

"Oh, I expect Fawkes and the Sorting Hat will make numerous appearances, and I know Fawkes will keep you informed too if he pulls a surprise request for your presence." 

"What does the Dark Lord expect of me?"

"Potions. I will be taking you to meetings and stay in your pocket until we announce my new position. Maybe even hanging from his neck and talk to Nagini. She is fun."

"So my mark?"

"He knows not to give you pain, it's part of our deal."

Severus knew his mask slipped. Harry Potter bargained for him not to feel pain in his mark from the Dark Lord. He wasn't expecting that, he knew Potter said couldn't hurt him but he didn't think he included it in his summoning. "I know he said he couldn't hurt me, but I just thought it meant no more Cruciatus Curse. I didn't think it included my mark."

Harry looked at him in surprise. "Why?"

"I am not sure exactly sure why." He was being honest, he wasn't exactly sure why he believed it. "Do you want me to go to Gringotts with you?"

"No, I will be fine, if someone spots me it will just drive the man crazy wondering what I did." Harry grinned. "I want to drive him crazy."

"Well, to quote Fawkes, it's not a long drive." Severus smirked, he was enjoying himself.

"Want me to flash you to your quarters or just to Myrtle's bathroom?"

"My quarters. Harry, I am worried about you sleeping down here. Sleep in my quarters in your kitten form. I will feel better about it."

Harry tilted his head and looked at him for a few minutes. "I will think about it." He told him honestly and he would.

Severus nodded his agreement and Harry transformed into his Phoenix form and flashed Severus to his quarters. "Severus, I promise to be careful." He sang to him. "I won't take any unnecessary chances."

"Be careful tonight at the bank, we don't need any of his Order members trying to grab you, and you giving your skills away." 

_______________________________________________________________

During the following month Harry flashed all over the United Kingdom. Dumbledore was having a fit with the multiple sighting of Harry during a single day, over multiple days, and then nothing for a day or two and back to the multiple sighting, but not leaving a clear pattern. Dumbledore had Order members looking for Harry in all the different spots. Harry and Severus were having a field day coming up with different places to have him be spotted at. The more remote the destination, the better it was as far as they were concerned since many wouldn't be able to simply apparate to the spots, has they hadn't visited them. Dumbledore had the Order running all over the place.

While he had the Order running around like chickens with their heads cut off, Dumbledore was having his own battle in Wizengamot with Lucius. He lost his Chief Warlock position because of the reassignment of the seats. Dumbledore was working on trying to get the seats back under his control. The goblins weren't giving Dumbledore any reason or moving on their position of telling him the information Dumbledore wanted to hear, so he had no claim on the seats. The public and the Ministry were pressuring him on where Harry Potter was and what happened regarding his relatives. The Aurors had spoken to them and Dumbledore was now trying to defend them in Wizengamot, as they were facing abuse charges and dragging his name into the mess.

The Dark Lord was enjoying Harry, Severus, and Lucius' reports. He was also enjoying the chaos they were creating concerning Dumbledore. He found Harry's skills very useful. Having Severus and Harry do various jobs for him that he knew Harry's skills were needed. He was also trying to work on beating Harry in a duel. Harry had been giving him lessons and the Dark Lord ended up needing a pain potion, after each session.

It was almost the end of November when Harry and Severus begin to have Harry make his kitten form appear. Severus thought back to the first day that he brought Harry into his classroom. Harry had peeked out of Severus' pocket. He looked around and dropped back into Severus' pocket and curled up, but he could hear everyone start talking about seeing Severus with a kitten. For a week Harry would peek his head out and then hide when they were in Hogwarts halls and classrooms. Severus made sure to put him in a pocket that was easy for people to see when Harry would peek out. Severus would let Harry know when it was time by simply tugging on that side of his robes in a sharp long tug.

*************************Flashback*****************************

Severus heard the rumors as he approached the Great Hall. He was taking points from students as he walked and took double points if they were Gryffindor. He could feel Harry purr as he took points from Gryffindor.

"Severus, I heard you had a kitten in your robe?" Filius asked as Severus sat down next him. Severus ignored Lupin like normal.

"Is that a start of a bad joke?" Severus retorted. He knew Harry was laughing as he could feel the little fuzzball shaking with laughter. He knew the kid loved to laugh and cause trouble.

"So you didn't have a kitten making an appearance in your classes?" Minerva asked, wondering if for once the rumors were true.

"What are you referencing?" Severus looked at Minerva.

"Several students have mentioned seeing a kitten popping out of your robe pocket during your classes." Poppy remarked.

"Really? Interesting." He took a bite of his food and dropped some of it into his pocket for Harry to eat. Harry ate some of the roast beef he fed him. Every time he stopped for a few minutes he would feel Harry paw at his robe. "I will get you food later, you little monster." He quietly spoke, he knew Lupin didn't hear because it wasn't that time of the month for the wolf.

He felt Harry nod his acceptance and curled up to sleep, as Minerva asked: "so the brindled grey fuzzball that people have seen is a myth?"

Severus gave her a blank look and kept eating, when he was done he rose and quietly left the hall, with his hand patting Harry on the head. When they got to Chamber, Harry broke down and started laughing. "I can't wait to continue this all this week." Severus began his lessons in helping Harry continue his education. Severus found himself enjoying teaching Harry, he was smart and eager to learn, which was different from his normal students.

*********************end of flashback*************************************

The second week Harry started eating at the table and making an appearance in Severus' classes. Harry would sit on Severus' desk and just watch the class as Severus paced around the room. He would sit on Severus' desk during office hours and stare at any student who came into the office during that time if they were ones he had problems with before. If Severus had detentions with Granger and Weasley, Harry would terrorize them. If it was other students, Harry would spend it running around those students and play with their quills, just to see if he could get Severus to laugh, he knew he got the students to laugh a few times. 

**********************flashback begins************************************

Severus watched everyone's face as Harry sat at the table in the Great Hall and ate off his own plate, and just kept meowing at Minerva, who was in her cat form, in between bites of food and when Minerva tried to figure out what he was saying Harry just kept changing the words on her. Minerva turned back to her witchy self and just looked confused at Harry. "Severus, I think your kitten is suffering from something."

"Really, why do you say that?" Severus asked as he looked at Lupin who didn't realize it was Harry he was smelling or seeing. Harry, however, was still hissing at Lupin each time the man went to touch Harry.

"He makes no sense." She started to explain. "I can tell he knows about Lupin's furry little problem." She quietly added. "I am sorry Remus, normal dog versus cat nature, I am thinking but with that little ball of fur I am not exactly sure." 

"Really? He is just a fuzzball, and I get some ingredients from him. He is also good at catching some snakes for ingredients too. Caught some big snakes by your office early this morning, Albus." He told Dumbledore. He enjoyed seeing the man pale at the idea of snakes being near his office. He wasn't going to tell him that there weren't any snakes in reality.

Harry meowed at Minerva, Minerva looked at Dumbledore. "He says they were yummy." Harry and Severus enjoy the man going several shades paler.

Severus saw the humor in Harry's eyes and decided to enjoy it some more and said "he is a great hunter. I have no idea what he will hunt when he gets bigger. I am hoping he will bring me better ingredients. He brings me a lot of his prey." Severus glanced at Dumbledore to see if he caught his meaning.

Harry bounced around the table imitating a great ferocious hunter as he stalked items on the Head Table, sending some silverware to the floor. He began meowing up a storm talking to Minerva, who was confused by everything Harry was saying. 

"I really have no idea what he is saying." Minerva finally confessed, very confused by the small kitten running around on the table stalking the salt and pepper shakers.

Severus and Harry kept this up all week enjoying confusing Minerva, leaving dead animals by Dumbledore's office door for him to find. Harry searched the Forbidden Forest for the animals, usually after Severus got ingredients from them. Harry would also leave behind the unused bits of any animal Severus used during his potion making.

*******************End Flashback****************************************

During the third week Harry started following Severus around the halls. Helping Severus stalk Granger and Weasley like Mrs. Norris stalked the other students. Harry started sleeping on Severus' spare pillow on the huge king size bed after Severus dragged him into the bedroom when he found a freezing kitten on the couch one morning. Harry and Severus continue their escape down into the Chamber when they could.

*******************Flashback*******************************

"Severus, your kitten is following you." Filius said as Severus and Harry made their way up to the Head Table.

"Really, I thought it was just my shadow." Severus retorted as he sat down. 

"Have you named him yet?" Minerva questioned him. The elves had a table setting for Harry already set up. Harry and Fawkes worked on getting the house elves to help them. 

"Why would I name the beast?" Severus looked down at Harry who was sitting at Severus' heels. Most of the staff had been trying to naming Harry during the past week or so and Severus enjoyed watching Harry tip over something when a new name was given. Harry did enjoy creating chaos. 

Harry looked up at Severus and let out a meow.

"He's hungry." Minerva told them. 

"He is always hungry, I swear he can eat a lion." Severus informed them. "I can't get rid of the little pest. It seems to think it's my master." 

"That is the nature of cats." Minerva told him smugly.

Harry gave a somewhat self-satisfying meow and put his paws on Severus' legs and Severus bent down and picked him up. Severus started calling Harry, Chaos, and soon the name caught on, everyone was calling Harry, Chaos. 

They spent the rest of the week working on information for the Dark Lord, spells down in the Chamber and confusing the staff and students at Hogwarts.

*************************end of flashback***************************************

During the fourth week, Harry started to terrorize Granger and Weasley whenever he could. Between Severus and Harry, they played numerous pranks on Granger and Weasley, nothing dangerous as they didn't want to hurt them but enough to make them wonder what was going on. They used Harry's Phoenix form, with Fawkes and the Sorting Hat for assistance, in setting up the pranks. As a kitten, if they came near Harry, he would hiss and arch his back at them. Severus enjoyed taking more and more points off of them for scaring his familiar. Granger seemed determined to get Chaos to like her.

During the two months, the Dark Lord had numerous meetings setting up plans for the coming months with Severus in attendance with Harry in his pocket or draped around the Dark Lord's neck as a snake. Nagini and Harry would spend the meetings having a running commentary on the individual Death Eaters. The Dark Lord tried to keep them quiet but it never worked, after every meeting, the two of them got worse and worse.

*************************flashback**************************************

Harry was draped over the Dark Lord's shoulders and waiting for the first meeting he was attending. ~Here comes the idiots.~ Nagini hissed. ~Now the losers I call morons, they don't have a brain between them, they are the ones that get booted out faster. Tommy can't stand them.~

~Nagini, don't call me Tommy. That is my outer circle.~ The Dark Lord informed them.

Harry laughed and Nagini continued, ignoring the Dark Lord. ~After that comes the next tier of losers, they are ones who might share a brain cell or two, Tommy calls them Brainless level. They stick around longer but Tommy has no patience for them either.~ 

~They are my inner circle.~ The Dark Lord remarked to them.

~The ones who are worth anything are what he calls the Somewhat Worthy, only ones he likes are Crazy One, Depressed One, Woody, and Pretty Boy." Nagini told Harry.

~Crazy One has to be Bella, Pretty Boy? Woody? Depressed One? Do we want to name them the rest as they come into the room?~ Harry asked.

~I have a few names for some of them. Pretty Boy there.~ Nagini raised her tail and pointed to Lucius.

~Lucius, Pretty Boy works. What about Severus?~ Harry hissed his question.

~Depressed One, but he has been happier lately, have to change his name.~ Nagini hissed in answer.

~True.~ Harry would smirk if he could, he knew he was looking as smug as a snake can look. 

~Chocolate is what I call him. Woody is Augustus Rookwood. They are in my Elite.~ The Dark Lord hissed to them.

~Oh, his eyes, I have to agree. ~Harry hissed.

~Here comes Crazy One.~ Nagini hissed.

Harry saw Bella join them, she was almost skipping in her entrance. ~Quiet One is incoming.~ Nagini warned and Harry and Tom watch Rabastan Lestrange walk in.

The three of them spent the beginning of the meetings giving names to all the Death Eaters, in the Elite and inner circle.

The Dark Lord started the meeting by asking Severus to report on Dumbledore. As Severus started speaking, he was trying to ignore Harry and Nagini's running comments, but the snakes were laughing and the Dark Lord was trying not to laugh with them. 

************************End of Flashback***************************

At the end of the meeting Lucius and Severus just automatically stayed behind. Harry transformed into himself. "I must say that was interesting." Harry sat down and summoned tea. "Tea?" 

"How much longer are you going to keep flashing all over the United Kingdom?" The Dark Lord asked, taking a cup of tea from Harry.

"Until the end of the school year." Harry smirked. "Lucius is there any laws we can force through now?"

"Yes, we have been lining up, now that we have the Wizengamot and we have finished the revision of the laws, we can start on our agenda." Lucius answered.

"Can you keep the Minister adding pressure on Dumbledore regarding Harry without having the Minister put more Aurors or others onto Harry's case?" The Dark Lord asked.

"Yes, he hasn't been taking Dumbledore seriously in regards to Harry being missing, he knows about the abuse especially since the Aurors used truth serum on those disgusting Muggles. He thinks Harry ran away because of it and says Harry will turn up when he is ready. He actually gave Dumbledore a long lecture about abuse and wants the man to take a class at St. Mungo's on abuse." Lucius explained. 

"How has it been in Hogwarts?" The Dark Lord asked.

"He doesn't think Harry is the kitten. We have been tormenting him in small ways, the same with Granger and Weasley. Fawkes and the Sorting Hat are keeping us up to date on what he is doing, so far he is just sending his chickens running around." Severus informed him.

"I have been leaving dead snakes and animals by his office door as Chaos. Pranking Granger and Weasley have been really fun, they have no idea who it is, at first they believed it was the Weasley twins, even though they aren't at Hogwarts." Harry told them. "We have been using the Chamber for spell work with Severus keeping me up to date on school work."

"He is easily up to his NEWTs level on the core, OWLs on Rune and Arithmancy." Severus answered the unasked question.

"How stretched is the Aurors looking for Harry?" The Dark Lord asked.

"I can get most of the Aurors removed from Harry's case, my Lord. I believe most aren't really looking for Harry, they seem to be following the idea that he ran away and they don't want him to return to Dumbledore, with the notable exception of Dumbledore' people." Lucius said.

"Do it." Harry told him. "The more pressure we put on Dumbledore the better it will be for us. If he has to use more members to find me the better. He might even have to start looking. I know McGonagall isn't happy with the man. She talks in her cat form, a regular chatty tabby. She thinks I am crazy and therefore tells me a bit more. She hasn't been happy with him since the truth about the abuse has come out."

"How do we want to get the press involved, my Lord?" Lucius asked the Dark Lord.

"I believe the goblins can handle it." Harry said. "We let them provide the evidence, we remain clean." Harry looked closely at Severus who hasn't really been speaking his mind freely. He answered the questions but he wasn't being Severus. It was bothering Harry and he hissed to the Dark Lord. ~Tom, Severus doesn't know what to call you in private.~

~He isn't calling me Tom, bad enough I have you two doing it.~ "Severus, in private, call me Marvolo. I am not your Lord any longer. Your assistance is needed in this as well as Lucius'." The Dark Lord told the man.

Severus just nodded his agreement but remained quiet. "Well, Tom, we need to get back or the old fool will wonder where Severus is. I will pop over tomorrow for those new books." Harry grinned at the Dark Lord.

"That is fine Harry." The Dark Lord said.

Lucius watched Harry turn into a Phoenix. "I don't think I am going to get used to that." Lucius remarked, seeing a clear Dark-sided Phoenix flying around before landing on Severus' shoulder.

Harry sang and Severus told his tail feather. "He says you will Lucius." Soon they were back in Severus quarters.


	6. Dumbledore

Severus entered the Headmaster's office and immediately Fawkes landed on his shoulder. "He is going to try and con you into searching for Harry this weekend. No one else will do it. They are getting sick of the wild goose chase."

"Albus you wanted to see me?" Severus took a seat. He knew Harry was going to start something with Fawkes but he wasn't going to stop it.

Chaos peeked out of his coat pocket. "Fawkes." Chaos meowed and climbed up Severus' sleeve to sit next to Fawkes. Fawkes started to groom him, making the kitten start to purr. "Can you get that spot behind my ear, he keeps missing it. He does try, however, but just can't get the right spot." 

"Hey Harry, sure, just tilt your head. The old fool wants to send you away this weekend, Severus. Hat thinks he wants to look in your quarters for some potions. Also, wants to see if he can find a way to tie you to him again." 

"They get along rather well." Dumbledore stated. "Lemon drop?"

"No thank you. Why did you want to see me?" Severus ignored Harry and Fawkes making gagging sounds at the idea of lemon drops.

"I need you to go to Ireland, there are some spots that need to be checked out where some have said Harry had appeared. We have been checking each sighting, and nothing has been found so far."

"I wonder if his nose will grow if he keeps lying?" Harry meowed.

"No, didn't work. Hat and I started measuring one night. Left quill marks on his face the whole week we measured. He still isn't sure who did it. That might be something we can do again, except leave words this time." Fawkes explained.

"Why Ireland? I am sure there are others who can do it. I have potions to brew." He was trying to ignore the bird and cat as they made prank arrangements. 

"Here it comes, get out your waders, he is going to dish it." Fawkes sang. "Have you thought about leaving a snake or two in here? That would freak him out."

"Yes, but I didn't want him to kill the snakes, maybe if I find something dead I will." Chaos meowed and moved closer to Severus' neck. He started to bury himself in his little corner under Severus' hair. "It's cold in here."

Severus reached up and pet Fawkes until Chaos wrapped himself around his hand. "Chaos, let go." Chaos let go of Severus' hand but started to play with Severus' hair.

"I need you to make sure if they are true sightings or just people trying to capitalize on the reward for finding Harry." Dumbledore stated.

"There is a reward?" Came out of all three of them. Severus spoke it, as Fawkes squawked and Harry hissed. "When was a reward issued?" Severus asked.

"Yes, not much of one granted but we need to find him and fast. We thought a reward might bring in more information. It was issued shortly after Halloween. Most of the Order have been following other leads."

"Lie, they all told him they wouldn't go after that last round of island hoping they had to do. Mad-Eye got into a snit because he landed in some big lake with a sea monster in it. The sea monster thought Mad-Eye was his mate and wouldn't let him go." Fawkes told them. "So when can I meet Nagini?"

"Mate? Wonder how he got away? Next meeting if you are up for it." Harry meowed.

"Why do you believe I will have better luck? If anything the boy will see me and run the other way before I can say a word to him." Severus commented he wasn't sure how he was going to handle Fawkes, Harry, and Nagini in the same room. "I also have a very long list of potions Poppy wants me to brew over the holiday, as you know as soon as the dunderheads come back they will give each other the flu or worse."

"I am sure we can handle the brewing." Dumbledore stated. "Here are the places we need you to check."

"I don't believe I said I was going." Severus stated. "I have other things I need to get done. I have spent a lot of time already looking for him, and I am not going to spend my few days off looking for him. You know it's also the only time of the year I can gather some ingredients." 

"Watch this." Fawkes said and took off into the air and started singing as loud as he could. Harry decided to join him and together cat and bird made it impossible for anyone to speak. 

"SEVERUS, grab your cat." Dumbledore pointed to Harry who was now sitting on the floor next to Fawkes, they were leaning against each other having a great time singing, almost like two drunks sitting on a street corner singing their heads off.

Severus, trying not to laugh, picked up Harry and put him in his robe pocket. "Chaos, go to sleep."

"Party pooper." Fawkes landed on his perch. "We will need to do that when he is sleeping." 

"Now, as I was saying, I need you to go and check out those locations."

"No, I can't, I have things I need to get done. Numerous things that are just for this school alone." Severus said. "I have looked for the boy to the point that my brewing is behind and so is my gathering of ingredients. Now, if you excuse me, I need to go and finish the Pepper-Up Potion I have already started." Severus got up from the chair and left the office. As he was walking down to his quarters he felt a spell hit his back.

"Compulsion spell." Harry was angry. "He is standing behind the gargoyle."

Severus stuck in hand in his pocket and petted Chaos as he turned around and walked right up to Dumbledore. "If you ever do that again, you will have my notice." Without waiting for a reply he headed back to his quarters.

Once inside his quarters Harry peeked out and looked up at him. "So can I play with Fawkes and torment the man now?"

"Yes, have fun. Just remember don't get caught." Severus shook his head. "Look at who I am telling don't get caught. I can't believe he did that. Find out why he wanted to get into my potion lab."

"Oh I already know that he wants to steal a few of your ingredients. He also wants to see if he can figure out if you are brewing anything for Tom. He wants to try and figure out what Tom might be doing."

_______________________________________________________________________________

The next day Severus arrived in the Great Hall for breakfast and looked at Dumbledore, the man looked like he hadn't slept at all. Severus sat down, Chaos climbed onto the table and took his spot, Severus began to fill both plates with food. The house elves added food just for Chaos and soon the kitten was eating. He meowed at Minerva when she took her place. "Morning Chaos. Albus, what happened? You look like you haven't slept."

"I didn't. It seems I have some crickets in my room." Albus told her.

Severus looked at Chaos, who kept on eating. "Crickets?" Severus asked. 

"Yes, they chirped all night. I couldn't find them, and a Silencio didn't work either." Albus told them.

"Silencio would only work if you hit them, did you try a spell for around your bed?" Filius asked. "There are a few charms that work."

"I tried them. Nothing worked." Albus stated.

Severus looked at Chaos who winked at him and kept on eating. Severus wondered what Fawkes and Harry did, and he knew he would find out soon. 

___________________________________________________________________________

"Severus, I need to talk to you for a brief moment." Dumbledore stated.

"I have a class in a few minutes, may we speak afterward?" 

"I will be brief." Dumbledore approached him, "I am sorry about the spell, but I need you to go and check out those sightings."

"No. I have a huge list of things I need to do. I am sure there are plenty of others who can do it." Severus stated. "Now, I have a class, it's Gryffindor and Slytherins and I would like to get there before they destroy my classroom." Severus turned and started towards his classroom. After three back to back classes, he pulled a sleepy Chaos out of his robe pocket. "So what did you and Fawkes do?"

Harry turned into this Phoenix form and began to sing. "We dumped about three dozen crickets in his room, we mimicked their sound into his stuffed bear that he sleeps with, it was already on his bed." 

"Where did you get the crickets?"

"Well, you see, remember Trevor the Frog?"

"Yes, Longbottom's pet."

"Yes, we got the idea from Trevor and Neville. We owled ordered some crickets and used them."

"You owled ordered crickets?"

"Yes. I used one of Tom's accounts, he knows."

"What else have you two have planned for him?" Severus wondered what they were going to do next.

"You know those extra parts you make people separate for detentions? Well, Fawkes and I are going to hide them in his personal quarters."

"That is going to make his quarters smell, badly." Severus told him trying not to smirk. "Don't go overboard."

"We won't, Hat is going to let us know if anyone starts to smell them if we don't notice, I was thinking of sticking them in his curtain rods, the elves will wash everything else. I need to ask Tom if we can bring Fawkes next time. So do you mind if I pop over and bother him for a bit?"

"No, go ahead if I need you, you will know." Severus held up the charmed pin that they made to allow Harry to know if he was needed at the Castle with Severus or if Severus just needed him in general. He watched Harry flash out.

____________________________________________________________

Harry landed in Tom's office, took his seat and waited for the man to arrive. "Tea?" He asked as Tom stepped into his office.

"Brat, what are you doing here?" Tom walked to his desk. 

"May I bring Fawkes and the Hat to the next meeting? They are getting bored at the Castle and want to see how they can help. They will stay hidden. Also, wanted to see if you want a duel."

"Yes, they can come, as long as they stay hidden and the four of you behave. I mean it Harry, no seeing who can make me or Severus laugh first. I thought both us were going to start laughing at you as detailed what you and Nagini smelled off of everyone. There are just some things I don't need to know about my followers." Tom told him. "Now, how about instead of a duel, you teach me those new spells of yours and I teach you some more parselmagic."

"You do realize that takes a lot of enjoyment out of us four getting together. I am sure Nagini won't agree with it."

"She will." Tom told him. "Did you study those spells?"

"Yes, Severus wouldn't duel with me, until I showed him the spells. So we worked on them last night." 

"Good. How is he coming on understanding Parseltongue?"

"I had to bit him again, but he is getting better and it's lasting longer. Where is Lucius?"

"Ministry. Can you get Severus after dinner? We need to talk about some of the new changes we want to do." 

"Sure, I will flash to the Castle before dinner in the Great Hall and let him know."

Soon they were lost in the reading and creating of new spells.


	7. Changes

Harry landed with Severus in Tom's office. Lucius was already seated and Harry transformed back and sat down in his usual seat. "Tea?" He asked as he summoned the tea, he automatically started to a cup for Tom. 

"Yes, please." Lucius answered. "Cornelius was long winded today and I didn't get a chance to have some earlier."

"Severus?" Harry asked.

"Please." Severus responded as he was looking through some parchment. "Marvolo, I was looking into Hogwarts' Charter, did you know he hasn't officially canceled any of those classes we were speaking about the other day, and I found a bunch that he canceled after you left and before we attended." Severus nodded his thanks to Harry as his teacup settled in front of him.

"How many classes?" Tom asked, taking a sip of tea. "Harry where do you get this from, it's wonderful. 

"It's Adagio Golden Yunnan from the Yunnan province of China." Harry answered, "Severus, I saw some of those classes can we get them returned?" Harry pulled out some ledgers to review.

"There are over 30 classes. I believe we can get them returned. Lucius will have to present it to the Board. None of them are dark with the exception of the Dark Arts class, which will have to wait until Dumbledore is gone." Severus passed Lucius and Tom a copy of the list.

"Music? He removed a music class. I wonder how he did that?" Lucius began to flip through more of the list.

"It was popular when I was there." Tom answered. "They taught how to play instruments and read music, gave a Yule concert and one at the graduation."

"It's might be a budget restraint. The expenses have gone up a lot over the years." Lucius replied looking at his list. "Wait, here is listed a class that we had during school, it's still on the budget each year, I remember wondering why Draco didn't take it. It's Magical Law."

"So is Binns, he has been getting a yearly salary." Harry added. "It lists him as being an employee with a salary of 32,425 Galleons. I wonder why a ghost is getting paid?" 

"What?" All three said at the same time. 

"Yes, and that fraud Sybill Trelawney is getting 28,235 Galleons." Harry voice reflecting his shock. "Wait, why is everyone else only getting the maximum of 10,980 Galleons?"

Lucius got up and looked over Harry's shoulder, his finger running down the ledger. "Where did you get these ledgers? These aren't the ones we see."

"Fawkes and I found them in his filing cabinet, I copied them to look at them." Harry told him. "We left some more pranks in his office. The one in his desk is great, every time he opens a draw it plays 'Who Let the Dogs Out' by Baha Men."

Severus tried not to laugh but failed as Tom and Lucius exchanged a look. "Does it tell you who let the dogs out?" Tom wondered about Harry's sense of humor.

Harry started laughing. Severus was trying not to laugh as he answered the Dark Lord's question. "It's an annoying muggle song that never answers it, you have to hear it, it's very annoying. It's a good choice for Dumbledore."

"Lucius can we get an audit of the Hogwarts vaults and their books. We need to have a review of the staff too. I don't think most of these people even have a teaching certificate or their Masters. We might need to have the goblins look into his vaults. I am wondering if we should do an inventory of Hogwarts?" Tom decided to ignore the song and continue on with their meeting, feeling it was better for his sanity if he did.

"They don't. The yearly DADA professors' lack of skills should tell you that." Severus answered. "He also hires back professors like Slughorn." The disgust in his voice was clear. 

"An inventory would be a good idea, last one here is listed shortly before Headmaster Dippet retired." Lucius said as he is flipping through a ledger that Harry gave him. "Look here, here is an account for his robes, he has the school paying for those gaudy things."

"Slughorn may not have killed anyone but a lot of students left his class with permanent damage and scars from him. I think he was up to almost 25 people that ended up missing a limb, wasn't the last one the reason why he was forced to retire?" Lucius asked, looking up from the ledger he was reviewing. "Harry, can I take these to review?"

"Yes, we should make copies of them, give one maybe to Ironclaw to look at." Harry answered and gave him the rest of the ledgers he had. 

"Yes, which is why I got the job. He needed to find a Potion Master who wanted the job." Severus answered. "Look he has listed a Professor Hickles, there hasn't been a professor with that name."

"Severus give the ledger to Lucius, we will get a full review. Now the reason why I wanted to talk to you is that we have a number of laws I want to get passed, some we need to get revoked and some we need to make sure they don't pass." Tom said.

"If we can show my seats were used without my permission for the last few years can that help?" Harry knew he wasn't up on the magical laws or even some of the standard wizard laws, the Chamber didn't have any books on that.

Lucius and Tom exchanged a quick look as Tom asked, "what do you mean?" He was hoping he wasn't going to hear what he thought he was going to hear. He knew that while it would be good for them overall, he didn't want to know that Harry was subject to even more abuse in the form of neglect with his education. He knew about the physical abuse, he had felt Harry's pain at times. He made a mental note to speak to him about how he died.

"Well, he placed himself as my magical guardian, ignoring my parents Wills, and I became an adult when Barty entered me into the Triwizard Tournament, but I was never told. I was also declared an adult and able to take my seats when my relatives killed me, but he never told me, he had been informed by the goblins to my status. He kept using my seats until our deal."

"Wait, you became an adult at 14." Severus asked.

"Yes, according to the goblins. Since my magical guardian, Dumbledore, didn't object to me being entered into the tournament, I became an adult because there was an age line. The age line was meant for 17 years and older. Since I was entered into it, magic had to have accepted me as an adult. It released my seats and vaults to me." Harry calmly explained. "He just never told me, nor did he when I died."

"What did you mean by ignoring your parents' Will?" Tom could see Severus and Lucius were also having a hard time learning this new information and what it truly meant about Harry and how he was treated by the adults in his life. 

"According to my parents' Will, they listed numerous people to take custody of me, and clearly stated I wasn't to go to the Dursleys." Harry answered. "You know the Weasley's weren't on the list. Actually very few of the Light families were. Severus was listed, Mrs. Zambini was also listed and so was someone named Albert Runcorn."

Tom and Lucius looked like they just hit a gold mine. "Harry, we can get every law revoked since that the night of your parents' death. We can get any money he spent, sent to your relatives or anything he did in your name revoked." Lucius replied.

"Albert Runcorn is one of my inner circle, the one you and Nagini nicknamed Thug 1." Tom answered. 

"Can we get money for people using my image and writing stories about me without my permission?" Harry decided to ignore the information he just received.

Severus, Lucius, and Tom waited for a few minutes to see if Harry is going to answer the unasked question and when he didn't Lucius answered, "yes, we can. I will get a barrister for you to speak with, but the biggest thing is we can make the Ministry stop looking for you, as you are an adult, therefore, you didn't run away as you are an adult and you can live where you want."

"Dumbledore will keep looking, but it will make his Aurors have to do it on their own time." Tom added. ~We will be speaking about your parents' Will.~

~No, we won't.~ Harry hissed back, the anger clear in his voice. ~We won't be discussing anything regarding the past.~

~You can't bury it.~ Severus joined them. ~We will talk when you are ready.~ He looked at Tom, warning him with his eyes to let it drop. 

"Can we get it done without it being connected to us?" Tom asked.

"Ironclaw can let the Ministry know it. He can claim you authorized him to release the information." Lucius stated.

"Now, we will have to review the laws for the last 15 years and see which ones we don't want and get the ones that were vetoed we want to have become laws. It will take us until after Yule to get it all done. The biggest one will be removing that werewolf registry and some of those laws regarding all creatures." Tom answered. "It will make us getting these laws passed easier too since he will have to work on fixing his image when this information gets out."

"How does he even have any seats? He isn't a Lord." Harry asked.

"He got on because of defeating-" Lucius stopped. "He shouldn't be on, he never had his own seats, he was always voting Potter and the Founders. He even created an alliance with the Potter name." 

"We will need to check into the alliance." Tom told Lucius. Lucius added it to his list of things to do Tom noticed.

"So he is out of Wizengamot. Now to get him removed from the ICW." Severus said.

"We can do that, just leak out Harry's years but use the other houses, any of our followers in the other houses can give quotes." Tom answered. "They will investigate why things like the Stone was in the school. The Tournament is one I am surprised they haven't investigated as of yet."

"I can also have some of my friends who will help us provide information. The Weasley Twins, Bill, Charlie, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood, her father owns the Quibbler too, so they can print things for us too." Harry answered. 

"You sure about those Weasleys?" Tom asked. The Weasleys were famous for being a light family.

"Yes, they helped me escape from the Dursleys when they could, they also help me escape from the Order when they could too. They know what their remaining family has done, with the exception of Arthur. We think he is under a lot of potions." Harry answered. 

"Do you know which ones?" Severus asked.

"No. Molly keeps all of her potions in the laundry room. They usually go in there and get supplies, so she won't think anything of them going into the laundry room, but they can't do go in there too often. If she has hidden they will find them. It will be fun trying to figure out what they are if we don't already know them."

"I am sure you will." Severus smirked as he remembered how smart the twins were, people usually underestimated them. "That swamp hole they created, we can use that if we have to battle Dumbledore."

"That is why it was created, we use the pranks at times to cover us developing some weapons. When I explained to them about the knockout gas muggles use, we created a nice little potion for that. Same with the Darkness Potion we created."

"Can you get me a list of what they have created?" Tom asked.

Harry turned to Tom and glared and Severus realized what was wrong. Harry said we and Tom said they. He remembered all the times he complained about Harry's lack of potion skills in meetings. "Marvolo, Harry is actually good in potions."

Tom looked at Severus and back to Harry and seeing the boy's glare realized he had, indeed, insulted Harry. "I do apologize, I didn't mean to insult your work."

Harry tilted his head for a few seconds, searching for something. ~That is going to cost you something.~ He hissed.

~What is the price?~ Tom asked.

Harry thought for a few seconds ~You will allow me to test ten different potions on you.~

~Experimental?~

~Yes, nothing that will do permanent damage, but we need someone magical we can test them on.~

~Three.~

~Eight.~

~Five and Severus will need to be there for them.~

~Deal. You will also be paying for our supplies for anything regarding this war.~

~Deal.~ Tom answered. "Severus, it seems they have some potions they want to try, I agreed to allow five of them to be used on me, with you present."

Lucius tried not to show his surprise as Severus said ~I will review the potions ahead of time also.~ 

"Since when do you speak the snake language and why haven't I been told about this?" Lucius asked, realizing he had not realized it was Severus hissing before.

"Oops?" Harry replied. "I can bite you and say the spell. Tom can't do it yet, as he needs to master his snake form. I will have to bite you a few times so that it will build up in your system." He turned to Severus "You already have reviewed two of them, they have been brewed in your classroom." 

"I would love it. Can you do it before you leave tonight?" Lucius asked.

"Yes." Harry told him.

Severus thought as they were talking and groaned. "The two potions I saw you bottle but never turned in and when I asked you about them, I believe you said they weren't the correct potions, it was at end of the school year. Wait, you have done that a few times, also I would notice that you had the right idea about how to fix a potion but yet you let it explode."

"Yes, they weren't. I had to, Granger and Weasley were watching me and would have reported it to Dumbledore." Harry grinned at him. "Slughorn allowed me to brew whatever I wanted at the beginning of the year, whenever I want. When I disappeared I created a private potion lab down in the Chamber."

"That is where you go when you aren't with me in the classroom isn't it?" Severus felt proud that Harry knew potions and wanted to create potions.

"Yes. I wrote down every word you said in your opening speech. I actually copied into my own potion journal, I review it each time I start an idea for a new potion. Gred and Forge also now do the same thing, especially if they get too many explosions when working out the kinks of a new potion." Harry answered.

"Are you going to for your Masters?" Lucius asked.

"Yes, already wrote up the research, created four different potions to submit and I will do it at the end of the school year." Harry answered. "I am going to do one in Defense too. I got an O+ on my OWLs."

"Why are you waiting so long?" Tom asked.

"Dumbledore is still in the school I want him out before I do anything. I would like to return there if I return before he is gone, he will try to kill or give me potions to control me. I don't want to stay hiding forever. So we to get as many articles out during Yule. The audits won't start, until after the start of the new term. We get the findings published and get him booted out. My parents' Wills will be released once we submit that, we will need to change the seats and the law reviews. We do everything legally and out in the open in a way, never exposing us as being behind Dumbledore troubles." Harry leaned back in his chair. "At the end of the school year, if he is still there as the Headmaster, we call for a vote of no confidence."

"A vote of no confidence could actually be done based on the audits." Lucius told him.

"Don't you want to take the enjoyment of watching his name be dragged through the mud. Don't you want to see him worried about when the next shoe will drop? Where the next area of his life will be under review?" Harry grinned at them, letting them know he wanted Dumbledore to suffer. "Plus I want to get his little lying, thieving buddies too."

"I am so glad you aren't after me." Tom said. "I am really going to work on that contract too. I know you took advantage of me on our last deal."

"What contract?" Severus asked.

"Our bonding contract. I am working on one for the four of us." Tom tried to ignore Harry's closing of his eyes and slight shake of his head.

"What?" Lucius said, trying not to show his surprise. "I am already married."

Harry leaned forward and propped his elbows on the desk with his chin resting in his open hands. "This is going to be interesting."

"I made a bargain with Harry, we are bonding." Tom answered smoothly. 

"I believe it was only if they agreed." Harry added. "I told you, no forcing them."

Tom glanced at Harry. "Yes, but seeing as you already know I am involved with Lucius and you want Severus, Lucius, and me, it made more sense to do it for all four of us." He was hoping to see the teen flustered, but Harry laughed. 

"Severus and I already have a bogus marriage contract. This is why we were able to talk. If he doesn't know I want him by now than he is in for an eye-opener." Harry looked at Severus. "Yes, his eyes are now opened." Enjoying the look of surprise on Severus' face.

"I think we need some things explained and now. Just because you made a deal with Marvolo doesn't mean I am going to follow it. It's bad enough I am taking orders from a teen." Lucius stated, his anger rising. He didn't like the idea of him being bargained into a bonding contract.

"He didn't tell me, I can smell you on each other. I did the first night." Harry own anger becoming clear, as he slowly stood up. "None of you seem to remember that I am a Mngwa. I am not some small little defenseless kitty." Harry changed and roared at them, making all three of them jump out of their seats, as they looked at an angry larger version of his kitten self. A deadly version. His razor sharp teeth and claws clearly are seen. He was huge, bigger than any lion or tiger they had ever seen. His muscles under his grey brindle coat with some black stripes tense, ready to pounce, his yellow eyes staring at them, daring them to run.

"Harry, calm down, please." Severus was trying to keep the fear out of his voice. "We need to get him calmed down."

"Mngwa aren't really patient, and prefer to kill those that annoy them." Tom added. 

"So how do we keep him from eating us?" Lucius was really wishing he had read the small book that was still on his night table next to the bed. 

The three of them had a desk between Harry and their deaths. "I think the only reason we are alive is that he cares about us.I didn't get to read a lot about Mngwas, but from what I read they usually are very dominant with their partners and refrain from attacking them preferring to go out hunting to take out their frustration." Tom was hoping they could get out of this alive.

"Create a door and let him out to kill something." Lucius said.

"It will be best, he will come back when he is calmer." Severus added.

Tom didn't answer as he pulled out his wand and cast a spell to create a door in his office. The door opened and Harry dashed out of it.

They returned to their seats and watched the door. None of them spoke for a long time, listening to the roaring. "He is speaking the truth, that is how he figured it out." Tom finally said. "He is the one who mentioned adding both of you to our bonding."

"I can't believe you want the four of us to bond with each other." Severus said as he was still listening to the anger roars.

"Yes." Tom answered, after a few more minutes of no one speaking as they were hearing a lot of roaring. It was suddenly quiet and Harry flashed into the room. 

~You shouldn't have told them like that.~ Harry hissed.

"No, you speak English, this is why we didn't know about you, you two speaking parsel." Lucius responded. "Details."

Harry turned to Lucius and glared. "I am still upset with you, don't push your luck." He paused, inhaled deeply. "There aren't any details. Tom agreed to be my consort, but wanted you, he already knew I wanted Severus. I always thought the three of you were incredibly sexy and didn't mind adding you, however, our deal was only if the two of you agreed would there be a bonding between all of us." Harry answered. "Tom and I will be bonding no matter what, however, I would love to have both of you with us." 

"I agree." Tom stated.

"You want me?" Severus asked. "Both of you?"

"Yes, I would have done it sooner but I always thought you loved Lily Potter." Tom told him.

"I did, but I wasn't in love with her. She was my best friend." Severus answered. "I knew Harry was hinting at something but I didn't understand what he wanted, now I do."

"I will agree to this bonding on a few conditions. One is that you must realize I can't divorce Narcissa, a bonding won't interfere with my marriage to her as we didn't do a magical bonding or binding. She has her own lovers. Second, is that I won't be taking orders from you, Harry, you are a kid and I already resent the way I am taking orders now."

Harry shook his head and looked at Tom. ~I am not going to make you choose. I will let you out of that end of the deal, I will still aid you, I won't be under you in any way but since you wanted the bonding, I will release that aspect.~

"English!" Lucius snapped. 

Harry glared at him and flashed out. "He was releasing Marvolo from his deal, regarding the bonding contract. Since the contract was in Parsel it has to be broken in Parsel." Severus answered. "You are also a fool. I need to go and find Harry, he is most likely down in the Chamber blowing up things."

"Go, I will meet you there after I talk with Lucius." Tom told him. "Lucius, what you have just done may have cost us the war."

"I don't care about the war, this is about us." Lucius replied. "You are willing to barter me to get Harry to get rid of Dumbledore."

"It wasn't about that, and I didn't barter you. Harry and I wanted you and Severus. He already knew about us, as he smelled us on each other. Our bonding details weren't even part of the deal. When I say that you may have cost us the war is because even though Harry will keep to his end of the deal, part of it was that he would take a passive role in the leadership. Now I fear he will. He will remove Dumbledore for us, we will keep the seats, but if he decides he doesn't like which way we are going, as soon as the war is won, he can take control. I wanted him to have an active role in this. He is smart, yes, he needs to learn more about politics and law, but he is willing to let us teach him. He learned so much on his own what makes you think that once he learns that aspect he won't be able to keep control if he takes it from us. I like Harry, Severus likes Harry, why don't you?"

Lucius didn't reply for several minutes. "I like Harry. I honestly do. You are right, he is willing to listen and learn, most his age won't listen. I know I didn't when I was his age. Do you really think he would do something like that?"

"Yes, look at what he is doing to Dumbledore because of how the man is. Lucius, he is not asking you to bond with him. That was totally my idea. I wanted you to be with us." Tom told him. "I don't want to give up our relationship."

"He would be in charge. He would be the Alpha, I am not sure how I can handle that." Lucius answered.

"What is the real problem, Luc? I know it's not Harry." Tom asked.

Lucius closed his eyes "I think I am jealous. He has how many forms? He is smart, going for two Masters and he is in his sixth year."

"He has also paid a very high price for. He worked for those forms. He was bitten by a Basilisk, he has Phoenix tears in his blood that is mixed with the Basilisk venom. I killed his parents, he was raised by very abusive relatives. He thinks he is escaping from them only to land into the hands of Dumbledore and those yearly tests he has made Harry endure. Lucius for his fourth year I used him in a ritual to bring me back. He is also my Horcrux. I think those things you are jealous of he would give up in a heartbeat to have a family that loved him like you love Draco, Narcissa, and me."

Lucius groaned as he processed what Tom was telling him. "I need to go and talk to him, can you get me into the Chamber?"

"Yes, come on."


	8. Lucius

Lucius and Tom arrived to see Harry blowing up a training dummy. Severus was sitting on a chair, in the corner of the room with a shield around him as Harry began dueling another dummy. They walked over to him and stood inside the shield. "How many?" Tom could see Harry was in control of his magic but his emotions were all over the place. Anger was the clearest one.

"That is going to be his fifth one. I was going to duel him to help him vent but I didn't want to get hurt." Severus answered. "Lucius, why are you here?"

"I need to speak to Harry and I believe all four of us need to talk." Lucius flinched as a spell went by his head. 

"He isn't happy with you, and I don't blame him." Severus answered. "What you said was uncalled for."

"Marvolo made me aware of that after you left." Lucius and Tom ducked as pieces of the training dummy bounced off of Severus' shield. They saw Harry move onto the sixth dummy. They all watched Harry destroy two more dummies before he turned and faced them. 

"What do you want?" Harry was still made, but they could see he was breathing heavy but he wasn't panting or out of energy.

"I had Marvolo bring me here so we could speak." Lucius said. "Harry, after you left, Marvolo asked me why I was having a hard time with this." He looked at Tom, who gave him a slight nudge on the arm. "I am jealous. I explained to Marvolo about how I felt about your numerous forms, you're going for two masters and you are only sixteen." 

"You do realize I didn't have a choice?" Harry hadn't moved from his position. "I certainly didn't ask to be a creature."

"Yes, Marvolo explained rather quickly and pointedly about how you got where you are. I believe we need to speak about your past, get you to open up about some of it so that I can understand and get to know you. All I see right now is a child who is aiding us in a war. A child that selected our side and because of his political power given to him by Dumbledore basically, we are winning."

Harry growled. "Harry I don't think he means it like you are taking it." Severus inserted. "Lucius, do you understand how and why Harry is what he is?"

"Not really. I know you have mentioned a few things, but I have no reference for me to go by regarding abuse. I know it exists but I have only known a few people who have been abused one is Marvolo and he wasn't exactly sane all the time. The other is you, Severus, you keep everything bottled in and bury it, your emotions are very well guarded and few get to see the true you. Harry, however, is always laughing, pranking, and while I have seen his power, I don't see much else."

"Harry, remove your shirt." Harry gave Severus a confused look and Severus added. "I believe he will understand better if you show him." Harry removed his shirt, causing Marvolo and Lucius to gasp. "That is better than when I first saw them. His Phoenix form is fixing the scars and other issues. Slowly, but they are getting better. Lucius, you have some idea of how hard it is to scar a magical being."

~We are going to be speaking about your abuse.~ Tom hissed at Harry as he moved closer to him. He touched on of the biggest scars that ran down Harry's back. "What caused this one?"

"Knife. Dear Uncle Vernon didn't like that Hagrid gave my cousin a pig's tail and wanted to remind me what a pig's tail looked like."

Lucius closed his eyes. "Your uncle did that because of something Hagrid did?"

"Yes, it didn't matter to him, he used anything for a reason. My cousin would break something and say I did it, I would be outside when it was broken, but I still got the beaten." Harry shrugged his shoulders and put his shirt back on as Tom walked back towards Lucius and Severus. "It isn't a big deal."

"IT'S NOT A BIG DEAL?" Lucius screamed. "He carved you up, you have massive amounts of scars. Harry, the man actually killed you." He reined in his temper and looked at Severus. "Dumbledore did it on purpose, didn't he?"

"I believe so. He knew that Harry wasn't to go to the muggles, he knew what Lily's sister was like. He also knew Marvolo and I were abused and kept returning us to our abusers. I believe he hoped Harry would view him as his Savior and do what he wanted him to do to stay at Hogwarts. Marvolo and I, I know, begged to stay at Hogwarts." 

"It's true, I got Headmaster Dippet to allow me to stay, but Dumbledore stepped in and wouldn't allow me to stay, starting spouting about how if he allowed one student than he needed to allow others. Dippet was going to look for another family to take me in, and he got the same speech." 

"Listen, I am going to say this once, and only once. Yes, my relatives were nasty, yes, I was abused and neglected but it's not who I am. Yes, it did affect me, it made me who I am in a lot of ways. If I had James and Lily raising me, I might be a spoiled brat, I might have been so many different things, but I am not. As your past made you, my past made me. You don't speak of your past, don't expect me to speak of mine." Harry told them.

"Harry, I understand all that, but I believe the four of us need to speak about our pasts. While Lucius wasn't physically abused, he was neglected in a lot of ways. We all have our scars, we don't need to have daily talks and hours-long sessions speaking of our past but we can't bury it any longer. None of us can, especially if we want a bonding to work for us. One of us being miserable won't make any of us happy." Severus explained.

Harry inhaled deeply, closed his eyes as he exhaled. "So where do we stand on this bonding? Deal or no?"

Lucius looked at Tom and Severus, who were staring at him. "I would like to actually get to know you as Harry, not Harry Potter, the Savior of the Magical World, not as Harry Potter, the co-leader of the dark. What I have seen I have liked. I want to learn to speak in Parseltongue, but I don't want to bond with a child."

Tom and Severus groaned at Lucius' words. Tom said "I want to bond, Harry. You know that, can you accept that?"

"You know how I feel. I have no objections." Severus added. He didn't look at Lucius, he was hoping Harry would accept the two of them. He wasn't sure what to do about Lucius. He knew the man wanted to be with Harry, he was just being stubborn.

Harry didn't answer right away, as he was staring at Lucius. "I don't know. I want all three of you, my Mngwa is demanding that I take you. I have been ignoring it, but it's telling me to claim you. I think it might be better if I left since I can't claim all of you, it will make it harder for me to control my desire to claim Lucius. I will do what I said, I will give you the war, but I will leave after that." Harry flashed out.

"Lucius, you stubborn fool." Severus snapped at him. "You know you want to join us."

"He is a child." Lucius answered.

Tom shook his head. "He isn't one, yes he is smaller than the average sixteen-year-old, but he is growing because of his Phoenix abilities, you are trying to see him as you see Draco. He isn't Draco. Draco is immature, Harry has never had any time to be immature. Yes, he is pranking Dumbledore but in all honesty have you thought of why he is doing it?"

Lucius looked at Tom. "You mean besides tormenting the man?"

"Yes. Lucius, his pranking got him to find those ledgers, Fawkes and the hat have been helping him not just to prank but to find out what that man is planning. The pranking has been distracting him from noticing things in his office that are out of place because of them looking for things. The pranking has the man focusing on who is getting into his quarters and office instead of looking and planning other things. The pranking is making him tired when someone is tired they can't think as clearly." Tom explained.

Lucius sat down on the floor. "He has been doing them for a reason?"

"Yes, some of them are potions they are testing to see how well they work and if they can be used for other things." Severus explained. "Harry and the Weasley Twins are very creative in their work. People have underestimated the Twins and Harry for a long time, it allows them to work in secret."

"This is part of the reason why I wanted us to speak. I remember what the Marauders did to you Severus, so I connected the pranks to them." Lucius explained.

"We really need to speak to each other more." Tom said. "Lucius, I am sorry. I automatically assumed you knew. I do forget that you never experienced the same things we have endured."

"I have to agree with Marvolo. I do apologize if I had known I would have told you." Severus informed Lucius.

"Thank you, now how do we find Harry and get him back here and tell him?" Lucius asked.

Severus held up a button. "I can get him to come to me with this. It's something Granger invented for the Order to use, and Harry and the Weasley Twins revamped a few for us to use." He quickly explained how the pins the Order used worked and since they used pins, Harry decided that since Severus had so many buttons on his robes, no one would think anything was wrong with another button.

"I like that idea. We can give them to our unmarked supporters, with a Loyalty Oath so we don't have to worry about a spy." Tom said.

"Summon Harry back. I would ask to speak to him alone, but I believe you two will be needed." Lucius stated.

"Yes, we will be, he won't be happy." Severus retorted as he used the button to get Harry to return. Harry flashed back, looked at them and was about to leave again when Severus said "Harry, please." 

Harry made a low noise in his throat. "Fine."

"Harry, I owe you an apology. I am so sorry for misjudging you. I didn't understand why you were doing the pranks, as I think back, I should have. The ledgers should have told me that you were pranking him for a reason. I connected the pranks you did to the ones the Marauders did to Severus when he was in school. I believed that you weren't mature enough for any relationships because of it." Lucius answered. 

Harry tilted his head at Lucius and studied him for a few seconds. "Why?"

"Why what?" Lucius asked.

"Something else changed, I want to know why?" Harry answered.

Lucius was confused and glanced at Severus and Tom to see if they understood what Harry meant. Severus looked at Lucius as Tom moved to Harry, Tom turned and faced Lucius and began to study him also. "I am unsure of what you mean." Lucius answered.

"You changed." Harry repeated.

"I think I know what it is. Lucius is part Veela. He can hide it rather well. I believe Lucius now trusts you enough to not hide that from you." Tom answered. 

Severus smirked, as Lucius gave Harry a slight smile. "Veela, that makes sense." Harry muttered and a book flew to his hand. He flipped some pages and handed the book to Lucius to read. 

"A Mngwa will find himself wanting at least one of his mates to be at least part creature. Veelas are especially well adapted at hiding their creature inheritance and Mngwa's are one of the few that can tell when there is one around. Veelas interbred with Mngwa for centuries." Lucius looked up. "That is why you wanted me from the first, you knew."

"No, I didn't, not really. It's like something was telling me to claim you, but I had no idea why." Harry responded.

"Does this mean we are part creature too?" Severus asked.

"No idea." Harry answered. "I see the three of you has being mine that is really all I know. There isn't a lot of books on Mngwas. I just have the three and the basically all say the same information."

"This is the way I can bond with all of you, divorce Narcissa without leaving her penniless or removing her from the family. I can use the mating as a reason for our bonding and it will allow Narcissa to bond with that wizard she has been seeing for years." Lucius responded.

"So I take it, we are all bonding?" Tom asked.

"Yes." Lucius answered as he closed the book. "May I borrow this to read?"

"Yes." Harry answered, his voice filled with confusion. "What just happened?" He asked.

"Lucius opened his eyes." Severus told him. "Harry, he was holding back because of how he viewed the pranks, he thought of you as a mini James, and he knows what James and Sirius used to do to me with the pranks."

"I don't humiliate Dumbledore. Granted I could but I don't. The pranks are more of an annoyance factor. Like the crickets and the rotten food."

"Crickets? Rotten food?" Lucius asked.

"Oh, I see. He didn't know what I was doing and thought I was doing what James and Sirius did." Harry quickly explained a lot of the pranks that they were doing and why. He explained how they found the ledgers in the hidden drawer because they were setting up another prank to cover their looking through Dumbledore's mail. Harry explained about the deal they made with Lucius asking some questions.

"I think Marvolo is right, we need a bonding contract." Lucius commented as Harry finished. "I do believe Marvolo got the short end of the stick on that bargain."

"I did, and I won't make that mistake again." Tom answered.

Harry grinned and Severus recognized it, he knew that Harry would get his way one way or another.


	9. Working As A Team

Lucius was sitting in Wizengamot, he was now the Chief Warlock. He was watching Dumbledore, who looked worse for wear, trying to get last minute supporters for whatever Dumbledore was going to bring up. Lucius thought about a few different things that the man could bring up. He was ready for whatever it was. Fudge finally arrived, most likely dragged into the Wizengamot by Madam Bones. He waited for everyone to be in place. He stood up and began what he knew was going to be a long and torturous session, well at least for Dumbledore. 

After almost two hours of old business being rehashed, the subject of Harry Potter came up. Lucius was actually surprised by who brought the subject up, he certainly wasn't expecting aid from Lady Longbottom. "Professor Dumbledore, would you care to explain why you are looking for Harry Potter? Is it because he ran away from the marriage contract with Severus Snape, that you tried to enforce?"

Lucius didn't change his position, but he was interested to hear what Dumbledore could possibly have to say. "I am not sure what you are referencing." 

"I am referencing that fact that you had a bonding ceremony set up in the Great Hall. In attendance were the Weasley Family, Hermione Granger, Remus Lupin, Severus Snape, and you with some of the staff. I should mention to the Wizengamot, that Professor Snape wasn't a willing participant either. You have been in fact looking for Mr. Potter since he disappeared from his own common room, instead of being bonded." Lady Longbottom finished.

"Yes, he is in fact, missing, as everyone here is aware of. I have requested Aurors to help in our search." Dumbledore smoothly answered. "I am not aware of a bonding ceremony being performed."

"It wasn't, as you well know. Now can you answer the question concerning the true reason for searching for Mr. Potter, given that according to numerous sources, including the DMLE that Mr. Potter is an adult." Lady Longbottom answered.

Lucius was wondering about that himself, he had been speaking to Cornelius Fudge about stopping the search but the man was getting pressured by Dumbledore and his Order to look for Harry Potter. "He was declared an adult?" Cornelius asked.

"Yes, on 31st October 1994, with his entrance into the Triwizard Tournament, without his magical guardian Albus Dumbledore stopping it. I should state for the record that as Harry Potter was a minor at the time, the magical contract could have been stopped and Harry Potter kept out of the dangerous tournament." Madam Bones stated. "In addition, we have found the bonding contract that was signed by Albus Dumbledore as his magical guardian, Remus Lupin acting as honorary godfather, Molly Weasley, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger as witnesses. We have found the bonding contract is, in fact, an illegal contract. If Professor Snape or Harry Potter contested this bonding contract, the five of them would find themselves in an interesting situation."

"It's not an illegal contract, and Mr. Potter isn't an adult." Dumbledore scoffed. "I have been his guardian since his parents' death."

"Interesting." Lady McKinnon said. She was the head of Magical Children Protection Society. "Madam Bones, could you please take this report." She handed a thickly bound report. "If you look at it, you will find that we have been investigating Mr. Potter and his living conditions since he returned to our world. If you look through it, you will see repeatedly that Mr. Potter has been abused, actually all of life. We spoke to his relatives, they were arrested yesterday by the muggle authorities and face multiple charges of abuse and child neglect. You will also find, we have been investigating the last few years at Hogwarts, we have found a questionable amount of students being returned to abusive homes, we have found the Headmaster had endangered numerous students, mainly Mr. Potter over course of his years there."

Lucius wanted to grin. They didn't have to do anything, the fraction of light people was taking on Dumbledore and really making the man look bad. He looked at Madam Bones, she looked sick as she glanced through the report. "Are these photos accurate?" She asked.

Lucius paled, he knew what she was looking at based on her words. He would have to make sure Severus and Marvolo would be with him when Harry found out. He would need them. He knew no matter how strong Harry was, this was something he knew Harry wouldn't have wanted out.

"Yes, we obtained them from his files at Hogwarts, Madam Pomfrey has provided us with numerous files, she had a purge done at Gringotts and found herself under a lot of compulsion spells, loyalty potion, and memory charms. Here is the report from Gringotts showing the results." Lady McKinnon handed another report to Madam Bones.

Lucius wondered if Severus knew about this, he didn't think he did because Severus would have mentioned it, he was sure. While this was helpful in getting rid of Dumbledore and paving a way for them to get the protection acts they wanted, it was going to be hard for those involved. No one wanted their abuse made public. "If I may suggest, may we keep the names of the victims be kept private. We have to protect them now, even if we haven't been able to do it in the past."

"I second that we keep the victims' names out of the press and kept it private. We do need to address the issue." Lady Longbottom tilted her head in understanding to Lucius. He had mentioned to her about the bills they wanted to submit regarding abuse and found her to be receptive and now he understood why. She had already begun her own crusade against it. 

"Motion carried, which also takes care of the next items on the agenda, privacy concerning witches and wizards in regards to this issue." Percy Weasley's voice carried. 

Lucius wondered if the boy was in league with Dumbledore but remembered he broke away from his family. He looked to Dumbledore as the rose to speak. "I am unsure of what Madam Pomfrey submitted but we don't have an issue with abuse. I also wasn't aware of any investigation that was occurring and I will submit my objections to these reports."

"We were investigating you. We informed you on the 3rd of March 1993, you responded back on 6th of April 1993. Here is a copy of your response." Lady McKinnon handed the parchment to Madam Bones. "As you can see, the response said that you welcome the investigation as there was nothing to be found." She handed another parchment. "Here is another letter we sent to you questioning the events concerning Mr. Potter's first and second year, we sent the letter on 17th of June 1993, your response back was dated 1 August 1993, saying that all was well, and nothing had occurred. However, we spoke to several students, here are their responses." She submitted another thick stack of parchments. "As you can see we did request an investigation, you agreed. The parents of various students also submitted various reports concerning the events over the years, as you can see the reports date back almost fifty years, starting almost as soon as you became Headmaster."

Lady McKinnon handed a variety of reports and letters. No one spoke as they began to read the reports and letters. Lucius had been glancing through the reports, yet was watching Dumbledore, the man was pale as others began to mummer about what they were reading. Lady McKinnon rose again. "Now, I am going to submit, for your preview, some interesting information. You see when the Headmaster was a Deputy, reports of abuse suddenly stopped. Headmaster Dippet handled abuse cases by referring them to my department and we were able to save a lot of students. In our review of records, we found that Headmaster Dippet submitted a request for Tom Marvolo Riddle to be removed from the abusive orphanage he was living in. The request was confirmed but two weeks later, Deputy Headmaster Albus Dumbledore stopped the removal citing that it was a misunderstanding, you will find that is a common theme in Headmaster Dumbledore's way of dealing with abuse." She paused and looked around. "If you are wondering why I am picking Tom Marvolo Riddle out, besides Harry Potter, you will see that Headmaster Dumbledore stopped our attempts to aid both boys after we got involved. Most of the other cases never made it to us because he stopped the reports from leaving Hogwarts, stopped Madam Pomfrey from being able to aid the students, abused and not abused. He has endangered our children numerous times, in his attempt to test Harry Potter."

Lucius still hadn't responded. He was thankful that she hadn't linked Marvolo's name to Voldemort and he didn't think that Dumbledore would because it would make him look like he created Voldemort. He had a lot to speak about to his mates. "I want to submit an inquiry regarding Albus Dumbledore." He knew no one would be surprised by his words and he knew it was expected. He fulfilled his duty.

"I second it." Numerous voices echoed through the chamber. 

"We have already started one concerning the abuse, the school, and we are submitting requests into the accounting of Hogwarts, the vaults, and we request a full inventory of Hogwarts. We are also requesting an inquiry into his hiring of Professors and the ones that are currently on staff. Numerous of the DADA Professors have been involved in the yearly events at Hogwarts. We have also found that most do not meet the requirement for teaching. The only ones who do are Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Professor Snape, Professor Stout and Professor Sinistra. You will find he has a third-year dropout teaching Care of Magical Creatures. He is a half-giant that brings dangerous animals to him, but deadly to the student into the classes. Mr. Hagrid is also the groundskeeper." Lady McKinnon finished. 

Lucius thought the woman did more damage to Dumbledore in this one session than they could have done because she wasn't associated with the dark, and was one of Dumbledore's supporters before this. He began to glance around the chamber and could still see the pale faces of several members, the shock was clear also. He knew tomorrow's paper was going to be interesting reading.

Cornelius glanced at Madam Bones, Lucius saw and knew that the session would be ending as banged his gavel. "I call this session of Wizengamot to an end. We will meet next Tuesday as usual, barring any emergencies." 

"Seconded." Madam Bones stated. 

Lucius could see that Madam Bones was looking at the mound of evidence against Dumbledore. He found a short note in front of him, he nodded his acceptance to meet with her after this session. He watched Dumbledore made a straight line to Madam Bones and Fudge. He inwardly sighed, arose and made his way towards them. 

"Amelia, you can't be serious about this." Dumbledore stated.

"Albus, you are lucky I haven't ordered your arrest right now." Madam Bones stated.

"I am wondering why he hasn't been arrested." Lucius said as he joined them.

"I am unsure of all of the charges. He is, however, going to find himself confined to Hogwarts, with a group of Aurors until I can get a complete accounting of everything." She responded.

"None of his Order members?" Lucius inquired. 

"No." She replied.

Lucius got the impression that there was more to tell. He knew he would find out when they were in her office. "I must protest, we did everything we could to protect Mr. Potter." Dumbledore interrupted his thoughts. 

"You call that protection?" Cornelius asked. "Did you read those reports?"

"All taken out of context." Dumbledore replied. "It's all a-"

"Yes, a slight misunderstanding, Mr. Potter's relatives care for him deeply." Amelia replied. "So deeply they marked it on his skin." The contempt was clear in her voice. "Dawlish, Hughes, and Thomas take Professor Dumbledore to Hogwarts. You will find a dozen Aurors already there to aid in guarding Mr. Dumbledore. Mr. Dumbledore there are three teams of investigators at Hogwarts, you will not interfere and you will cooperate with them. If not, I will issue an arrest warrant immediately." 

When Dumbledore went to speak, Cornelius warned, "do not speak Albus, or I will have you placed in a cell now."

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Lady McKinnon was already in Madam Bones' office when they arrived. "Lucius, pleasure to see you again." She greeted him.

"Pleasure is mine, Evie." Lucius responded. "I was quite shocked."

"I do hope you aren't going to say you didn't enjoy seeing Albus knocked off of his pedestal." Lady McKinnon gave him a slight grin.

"I won't, but despite the enjoyment in that, I am concerned about the children." Lucius took a seat as Madam Bones moved to her chair behind her desk. Cornelius took a seat next to Lucius.

"He is at Hogwarts?" Lady McKinnon asked.

"Yes, and Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mad-Eye Moody, and Tonks are on suspension while we investigate the fact that they were aware of Harry Potter's situation and did nothing to aid the child. They are part of his Order." Madam Bones informed them. 

"So there is a reason you allowed him to return to Hogwarts?" Lucius asked.

"Yes, I spoke to the portraits in the Headmaster's office, and they have agreed to speak to the others. They are going to provide us with details of what he is going to do, so we can hopefully find what he has been hiding. We already looked into the accounts at Hogwarts and noticed a lot of funds being mismanaged and a variety of other crimes." Madam Bones stated.

Lucius was impressed, while they had just found out the information, it seems the DMLE was already working on fixing it. "He will use the fear of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named returning to get out of it. He has been for over a decade."

"We are aware. One of the reasons I wanted to speak to you about, is in our research, we found that Tom Marvolo Riddle was He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. We know Dumbledore basically created him. He was also creating Harry Potter into being the one to defeat him and afterward was going to promote that Harry should be killed or placed in Azkaban to prevent him from becoming a Dark Lord, with him in charge of Potter and Black vaults. It is part of a plan with some of the Weasley family."

Lucius took a few minutes to recover but before he could speak, Lady McKinnon said, "another reason is we need to get some of this information out but we need to control how and what."

"I agree." Madam Bones stated.

"We must make sure everything is done legally, dot every i and cross every t. Albus is going to try every trick." Cornelius said. 

Lucius was surprised, the man actually had somewhat of a brain. "I believe it would be best to limit the amount we release and when. The reports of abuse, we know will be in tomorrow's paper. The reporters are going to have a field day with it. Let them have at it. Let them make us look like we are doing something to stop it since they have been reporting about the bills that have been put up regarding the issue." Lucius sighed. "The rest we need to be careful with its release. Keeping the names out will protect the children, I would even suggest a magical seal on those records so no one can leak the information out. Are you going to release the illegal bonding contract?"

"No, that is up to Mr. Potter and Mr. Snape. We have ceased looking for him." Madam Bones, "I would like to speak to him regarding his accounts, they were one of the accounts that Albus stole from. The goblins are interested in Albus."

"If you release too much, while it wouldn't cause a panic, he will try to say we are doing a smear campaign against him, despite the facts. He would say the Dark has corrupted the Ministry and by extension the Wizengamot." Lucius was hoping his words would give them the idea to do something but not with anyone who was even remotely dark or grey.

"I believe if Madam Bones, Lady Longbottom, and I speak to the reporters, have the goblins release the accounting information once it's all complete, have St. Mungo's release the information regarding the abuse, it would be best. If the Ministry releases everything he would claim it was a smear campaign as Lucius stated. He is going to pull those loyal to him. We will be charging some of his Order members concerning their lack of response in regards to the abuse of Harry Potter. I would love to be able to charge Molly, Ron, and Ginerva Weasley for what they have done on Dumbledore's orders, but we lack any proof of them actually doing anything illegal outside of knowing about the abuse, the goblins are looking into their accounts to see if any of the funds came from Mr. Potter or someone's vault, including Hogwarts. They were on scholarships to Hogwarts. Unless we find something in those accounts, which I believe we will, we can't do much about their attendance. As they did allow Harry to go to their house as soon as Dumbledore allowed them to retrieve Harry, I am not sure how much they knew." Lady McKinnon informed them. 

Lucius knew they only did it as a way to control Harry, but he didn't say anything. He was hoping the Weasley family wasn't as false as they already knew them to be. Harry needed to have some hope.

"So we have a plan of action." Cornelius added his agreement. "Now regarding the charges?"

For the next hour they went through and created a list of charges and who they needed them for. They worked on creating a list of who they would need to watch and investigate.

______________________________________________________________________

Lucius slowly walked to Marvolo's study. He was tired but knew his day wasn't over. He fingered the button in his pocket that Harry had given them as a way to summon him if need. He knocked on Marvolo's office and without waiting for an answer opened the door. "Lucius, you're early."

"We need to speak. I think the memory of the session would be best. Elf, tea." Lucius sat down on the couch and closed his eyes. 

"That bad?" Tom walked around his desk and taking a seat next to Lucius as the tea appeared on the table next to the couch. 

"No, good actually, very good for us, but Harry is who I am worried about. Get me a memory phial and I will put my memory into it."

Tom summoned a phial and once the memory was collected, he kissed Lucius on the temple and went to his pensive. Almost two hours later a shaken Tom returned to the couch. "I don't think he will have a major issue since his name won't be released."

"No, it won't by the Ministry, but between Dumbledore's people, reporters sneaking into the Ministry, and other members of the Wizengamot it most likely will be released. You saw I asked for a magical seal but there are so many who heard, saw, and read those reports before I asked." Lucius said. "It won't be out in tomorrow's paper, but it will leak out. Someone is going to want to collect on the Galleons." 

"I agree. Are they going to release me being Voldemort? It wasn't determined." Tom asked. "Also Severus wasn't mentioned in regards to the abuse either."

"His name was on the list, but all the victims will be kept hidden." Lucius took a sip of his tea. "You know the really strange part in all of this, is that they have been investigating it for a while and when it's released, it's going to make it easier for us to get our bills passed, get classes back. Dumbledore's name won't stand for anything." 

"I agree. Finish your tea, I will summon Severus with his mark so that he knows to bring Harry and it's important." 

Lucius raised his sleeve and Marvolo sent the request through his mark to Severus. It wasn't the painful one he used to do, it was a gentle touch, letting Severus know he wasn't upset but needed to speak to him and Harry. "They will be here soon. I believe he is finished with classes for the day."

They didn't speak until Harry popped into the office with Severus. "Marvolo, we weren't expecting you to call." Severus said as he and Harry sat down.

"I don't think it's a social call, Severus." Harry could see how stressed and worried Tom and Lucius looked. Severus was also looking with concern at Marvolo and Lucius. 

"It's not." Tom said. "Harry, Severus, I have my pensive setup. You need to see the memory in there."

Marvolo and Lucius were quiet as they watched Severus and Harry watch the memory. When Harry and Severus were kicked out of the memory, Harry was shaking. "Harry?" Severus asked. 

"Lucius, can I use the old laws to get set his punishment?" Harry moved to the window and was staring out into the garden. 

"Yes, but I see a problem with that, if you request it, others will also follow and the oldest claim gets to set the punishment." Lucius responded. "That would be Marvolo, but if Marvolo desires the punishment he will have to reveal himself. He won't." Lucius sent a warning look to Marvolo. "After that, it could get confusing on who has what claim, and one of his supporters could actually put in a claim, and get him off. If enough people put in a claim the one with the oldest title would be the one to pass judgment, usually calling for a list of grievances."

Harry turned and looked at them. "The oldest title?" He asked again.

"Yes." Lucius answered. "Oh, I see."

Tom smirked. "I wonder how many of my followers I can get that could put in valid claims?" 

Severus laughed. After several minutes Severus pulled Harry into his arms. "We need to speak about this."

"If I speak, you speak." Harry retorted.

"I agree." Lucius said. "We all need to speak about the abuse. I was thinking after dinner, we find someplace comfortable and speak, can you stay away for a few hours Severus?"

"Yes, he thinks I have gone off to collect potion ingredients. I told Dawlish to inform him." Severus replied. 

"So much for putting crickets into his room again." Harry told them. 

"He did look awful, and he really wasn't up to his usual self in Wizengamot because of it. Did you see him yawning?" Lucius grinned.

Severus finally released Harry and they began to speak about what they saw in the memory.


	10. Lucius' Turn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Going to give them each their own chapter, so get ready for it.
> 
> Also Lucius' is going to be short.

They settled in the sitting room off of Tom's bedroom. Tom adjusted the wards to prevent anyone from entering while they spoke. "Since I have been thinking about everything all day, because of the Wizengamot session, I was hoping I could speak first. While I know I haven't experienced what the three of you have, I believe it's a good starting point."

"Let's try to keep the questions down until there is a bit of a break, it's going to be hard enough, without starting and stopping." Severus stated, he looked at Harry, who was clearly trying not to show how distressed he was about speaking about his past. He glanced at Tom.

Tom, after seeing Severus' look, watched Harry for a few minutes as Lucius got himself comfortable with his tea. While all of them had had years to handle their past, Harry hadn't and this was going to be very hard on Harry.

"My mother died when I was five, I barely remember her. What I do remember is that she was a true pureblood wife. When people speak of my mother, they always made comments like she was a dutiful wife and mother, as others told me about her, I began to realize the woman was a cold fish. I saw her thirty minutes each night before bed, if she was available, more often than naught, she wasn't available. I learned later she had an issue with drinking. Most say it was because of my father, but after reading family journals and speaking to the portraits I believe it was a combination of her upbringing, my father, and what she viewed as her duty." Lucius appeared to be searching his memories of his parents. 

"My father was named Abraxas, he liked to claim he had one child, me, but I know he had a few summer kids, some are there, some are here." Lucius smiled a bit at his play on words, he had used that joke to ease the pain of knowing his father only cared about him because he was the heir and could care less about his siblings.

"When I was born, my father did the traditional pureblood naming ceremony and I rarely saw him after that. Unless it was to correct my behavior, which was only if he felt I shamed him in public." Lucius looked towards his cane. "He used to carry a cane, also, but inside of the cane was a switch. If I did anything wrong I got a swat with it, it didn't even leave a mark but the three-hour lecture, followed by essays and research was usually enough to stop me from doing something again. It was really the only time I spent with the man. I wouldn't see him for months at a time, I believe when I started Hogwarts, I went two years without seeing him. He usually gave orders to the house elves or sent me a note if he had anything he wished to say to me. I usually got a note and present on my birthday and holidays."

"It wasn't until about 1968, I was very young, but I learned what kind of man my father was. He was involved in some plot that forced the Minister for Magic, Nobby Leach, to leave his post prematurely. Nobby Leach was the first Muggle-born ever to have held the office, of course, nothing was conclusively proven against my father or anyone else." 

"He was involved, it was actually his idea, he planted a lot of fake evidence against the man, from bribery to embezzlement." Tom stated. He remembered when Abraxas had come to him with the idea. "He was one of my first followers, but very unbending in what he believed and what he wanted." 

Lucius sighed. "He wanted me to follow in his footsteps with you. He dragged me to those meetings. Always going on about how I needed to prove myself worthy of the Malfoy name. He would rant for hours about how we needed to purify our world and get rid of everything unpure. He never really explained what he truly meant. I personally thought he had a bit of the Black madness in him. Our great grandfather was a Black." 

"I am aware, I tried to tell him to let you come on your own terms. He never understood that my mark couldn't be forced onto someone. He actually wanted me to take you as a consort, keep you hidden away. He planned on marrying some young girl, by the name-" Tom stopped and thought for a few minutes. "Dorea, she was a Black."

"My grandmother, wasn't she already married to my grandfather?" Harry was confused, the ages weren't agreeing. He knew his grandparents were old when they had his father, but he didn't think that Lucius was old enough for the timeline.

"This was even before Melania even passed away. He wanted Lucius to be my consort and when he realized Melania was dying, he set his sights on Dorea, he didn't care that she was already married. I stalled on the contract for a long time, he actually dragged Lucius to a meeting when he turned sixteen, wanting me to agree to bond with him." Tom explained. "The man was one determined individual."

"Best day was when he finally died. He died of a case of dragon pox, shortly after Draco was born. When Tom didn't sign the bonding contract, he was forced to fulfill the Black one, that was why he wanted Dorea, the contracted needed to be fulfilled before the time frame was up. It was almost up when I married Narcissa, think it had about four or five months before it expired and he would have had to pay the price for failing to meet the contract. He was furious when Andy took off and married Ted Tonks, and I had to marry Narcissa. He didn't like Narcissa, felt she was too independent. He believed Andy would be more obedient. If he only knew." Lucius gave a slight smirk at the idea of Andy being obedient. "It's one of the reasons why I know I went overboard in spoiling Draco. I didn't ever want him to feel how I felt."

"Who took care of you?" Harry asked. He wasn't sure how exactly a pureblood household worked. He believed that explained a lot about Draco and Lucius' personalities about in public versus private.

"A house elf by the name of Taffy, and her brother Waffy would cover for her." Lucius answered. "When I was around five the tutors started, he would hire the strict ones, but only allowed about four hours of studying per day with a lot of breaks. It is how a pure-blood is raised." 

"Are all pure-bloods, except the Weasley, raised in similar ways? I don't mean about the neglect but education wise?" Harry asked. "It seems the Weasley family is the exception for almost everything when it comes to pure-blood ideals."

"Yes, some put great stock in certain things, like with the Blacks, it's certain skills like the Dark Arts or their family trait of being having Metamorphmagus in their lines. Potters, for example, were known for dueling and transfiguration, Malfoys were known, like the Prince line, for potions." Tom explained. "Some also are known for their fair share of nuts." 

"So because I have the Potter, Black, and well a few other bloodlines, this is why I am now who I am?" Harry asked.

"Yes." They all responded. 

"Interesting. Lucius, did your father get you into politics?" Harry asked. He wanted to get to know Lucius better and hope this would help in that area.

"No, if he had his way, I would be a "dutiful" wife to Tom. He was furious when I went away to university to study law and political science. When I got my degrees, however, he changed his mind. He started introducing me to others as his son, the future Lord Malfoy, before that if he had to introduce me, it was like oh, my son. He didn't even give them my names at times."

"He was proud of you for becoming a barrister." Tom reached toward Lucius and took his hand, giving it a squeeze. "I know he did want the very best for you, he just didn't know how to show it."

"Thank you." Lucius relaxed a bit in his chair, realizing some of the weight concerning issues regarding his father had been lifted. He felt a bit freer. He hoped it worked his three mates.


	11. Tom's Turn

Tom sighed as he realized he was next. He didn't want to speak about his past but an agreement was an agreement. "I am not sure what everyone knows, so I will tell you the truth as I know it. My mother died after giving birth to me at the Wool's Orphanage. I know she named me, as the Matron always hated my middle name." 

He paused, trying to decide how to continue and was thankful no one spoke. "I am not sure if what you know about the Muggle World War II, but it was a hard time to live in as a child. The bombings, air raids, all kinds of shortages from food to clothing. An orphanage was usually the place that was hit the hardest during those times. We would have to hide in tube tunnels during bombings and air raids. The next day, people would have to figure out who was buried alive or just missing if not dead. Clearing the streets of ashes, rubble, and bodies. Buildings no longer existed."

Tom took a sip of his scotch, he needed it before he continued. "No one wanted more kids, so it was tough to compete when a family showed up looking for a child. Most of the times a family wanted a worker, someone to help out on their farm or stores. Free labor basically, but if it got you out of that miserable place it was worth it. The younger children were always watched by the older ones if you want to call it watching, but we survived. It wasn't until I had my first accidental bit of magic that my problems there got worse. Don't get me wrong I wasn't a pleasant child before that, I was a loner, I didn't want to be adopted as I already seen a few children returned because of the war killing their new parents."

"My first piece of accidental magic was when one of the older boys, a boy by the name of Bruce, decided he wanted my shoes. I just got them, and they didn't have any holes in them. So I started to fight back, when suddenly Bruce was thrown across the room, he crashed to the floor and just laid there stunned. As soon as he recovered he started screaming for the Matron. He lied, saying that he didn't do anything and how I shoved him into the wall for no reason. When I tried to tell her what happened, I didn't get two words into my explanation before she was dragging me down the stairs and into her office, where she proceeded to use a thick wooden paddle and beat me senseless. Literally, I woke up the next morning to one of the other employees tending my wounds." 

Tom took another sip, as he looked at Harry, Lucius, and Severus. Harry was staring at a point on the wall, and Tom knew Harry understood what type of beating he took, and how bad it was. Lucius and Severus looked pale and sickened by what he described. "It got worse each time I displayed my magic to the point where the Matron dragged me to a priest and demanded the priest do something. The priest asked her what she meant, she explained about all the weird events and funny things I did, was the priest said: "did you ever ask him his side of the stories?" The Matron looked confused. "Why? Bruce and his friends would never lie to me." The Priest smiled kindly at her and replied: "I have found children tell their tales to keep themselves out of trouble. It's important to listen to both and pick out the matching facts. I am also aware of Mr. McQuiries parchment for creating problems." 

The Matron wasn't very happy to hear that, it wasn't until years later that I learned that Bruce was actually her own nephew and that her sister and brother-in-law had died in one of the bombings. She stormed out of the church, we went to a new church the following Sunday and a month later I experienced the first of three exorcisms. She found a priest who was willing to do them." 

"What is an exorcism?" Lucius quietly asked. 

"It's a Catholic ritual. It involved tying me down, denying me food and water as the Priest kept chanting at me, demanding the demon to leave. One used a flail on me to see if it would drive the demon out. They lasted a few days to a week. I don't remember all the details as I was very afraid and blacked out a few times from exhaustion and hunger." Tom explained. "My accidental magic was always out of control for a while after that. I would just wish for something like a good book and it would appear. I was afraid to try anything too powerful for fear of what the Matron would do."

"She finally stopped bothering me when I threatened Bruce when I was eight. I warned him that if he didn't stop bothering me, I would find a way to make him pay. Two days later, Bruce beat me up. The next day he fell down the stairs, I had nothing to do with it, but I wasn't above using it as a warning against the little brat." 

"After that, it was a matter of making sure I couldn't be hurt. When I found a snake and spoke to it, I started to scare the ones who did bother me by using my friends the snakes. By the time I was nine, no one bothered me, and I had my own room. The Matron couldn't get anyone to sleep in the same room as me, so she turned one of the bigger bedrooms into two rooms, I had my own window." Tom smiled at the memory. 

"I am not sure what she told Dumbledore when he finally arrived to inform me I was a wizard but I could tell from the moment the man arrived he didn't like me. He asked weird questions to, like did I enjoy hurting people. When I replied I only did things to protect myself and I didn't hurt innocent people, he didn't seem to care."

"He wouldn't have. He already decided you were dark. He told me about it when he was showing me memories of your past, including his visit to you." Harry stated. "He seemed to want to make sure I wasn't like you. He was always asking me those types of questions too."

"Building a case for the future to discredit you." Lucius responded. 

"I wouldn't let him take me shopping. I didn't feel safe with him. When I went shopping I bought a lot of books that weren't on the list and spent the rest of the summer reading. When I got sorted into Slytherin House, I was informed by Slughorn that Dumbledore already said I would be joining that house. Funny thing was, the hat originally started to say Ravenclaw." 

"He likes to play Merlin and switch houses on people. I had the compulsion on me to go to Gryffindor instead of Slytherin. I ended begging for Gryffindor." Harry informed him.

"I was to go to Ravenclaw also but did the same as Harry, I argued for Slytherin instead." Severus informed them.

"I am sure Hat will tell us a lot of people were sorted into the wrong houses." Lucius responded. 

"True." Tom stated. "Once I was in Slytherin, I had a very hard time, I thought I was a Muggle-born and at the time those in that house weren't welcoming at all to anyone who wasn't a pure-blood. So I had to prove myself and I did. By the time I was in my third year I had a few followers, I would never call them friends, as they were just a stepping stone to me and they were aware of it." 

"I tried each year to get Headmaster Dippet to keep me returning to the orphanage, even showed him the marks on my body from the whippings and exorcism. Dumbledore always interfered. I gave up after my third-year and instead started spending the time at my followers. I would return to the Orphanage, spend the night and leave the next day." 

"When I turned sixteen, I discovered the Chamber of Secrets. I enjoyed talking to the Basilisk, her name was Awyl. One day I was leaving the Chamber, she followed me up the pipe, I was telling her to return to the Chamber when Myrtle walked in. I hated that girl, she made my life miserable. She was a know-it-all, who wouldn't leave me alone. She would follow me everywhere demanding to know what I was reading, doing, or even studying. If I didn't answer her she would go to the Professor Graves, he was the Ravenclaw Head of House at the time and say I was being mean to her, bullying her, and one time even told him I pushed her. When she showed up in the bathroom, she was killed by accident. I didn't see her but Awyl did and didn't avert her gaze fast enough." 

"Is that when your diary became a Horcrux?" Harry asked. 

"Yes, I started the ritual, Slughorn had given me the book already, and I started it. I had just killed a chicken, thinking it would work. It didn't, so I thought I needed something bigger. I wasn't expecting to kill a student. I know I set up Hagrid, but really he had already gotten three warnings about the dangerous creatures he had allowed into his dorm. One of the students lost a hand because of it. Thankfully it was able to be regrown but he was dangerous."

"Hagrid is still like that. I am not sure if getting him expelled was good or bad for him but I believe if he had been allowed to continue, most likely one of his creatures would have killed someone. He still hasn't realized what is safe for him, is deadly for everyone else. The maze animals, dragons, and I can't even tell you how many times if I didn't speak Parsel, we would have had a student bitten by some reptile." Harry stated. "I like the man, but he isn't teacher material. I think he is best as the groundskeeper."

"I agree with Harry." Severus stated. 

"I didn't set out to get him expelled, Dumbledore actually could have prevented it, but he didn't. I was never sure why. He knew that Hagrid was innocent."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" The three of them said as they thought about Sirius Black and the other actions of Dumbledore. 

"Nothing major happened after that. When I finally graduated, I knew I wanted to change things, so I filled out the application for the DADA position. I almost got it, but Headmaster Dippet had a point, I needed more worldly experience and he agreed to hire me in five years if I reapplied."

"So off I went and explored the magical world. I loved it, all the magic that Hogwarts didn't teach was taught out in the open in other magical places. So I studied, got my Masters in Defense and Spell Weaving. I finally decided to return to Scotland. I saw the position of the DADA was open again and applied. I got called for my interview and went in. Much to my surprise, Dumbledore was waiting in the Headmaster's office. Dippet has passed away the year before and he took over. He denied me the position because he felt I was too dark. I showed him my Masters and he ignored it and hired someone who just graduated."

"So you cursed the position?" Harry asked.

"Yes, I did." Tom grinned. "Figured he deserved it. After that, I went to Gringott's and asked for an Inheritance Test. I learned I was the heir of Slytherin and that my mother was a Gaunt. When I went to find my family, let's just say I wasn't impressed. The Gaunt side was living in a shack and the muggle side wanted nothing to do with me. I can safely say that is when the madness became clear. I thought the ritual I did with the diary did something to me, but I wasn't clear on what, after I killed my muggle relatives, I realized my sanity was slipping and I found at the time I didn't care. You know the rest."

"How do you feel now?" Harry quietly asked. 

"Thankful, I am almost fully sane. I actually scared myself at times over the years. When I was in that forest for that decade, I was so angry, I wanted to kill everyone and everything. When I possessed Quirrell, I began to notice a difference, but not enough to act on it. When you destroyed the diary, I realized some of what I lost. When I did the ritual at the end of your fourth year, that night I laid awake all night thinking about everything. I actually spent last year trying to find ways to get in touch with you."

"What? You sent me visions last year, and even the fake one that got Sirius killed in the Department of Mysteries." Harry sputtered.

"I didn't send you any visions. I went to the Department of Mysteries because I was informed that the prophecy was in danger and I needed to get it that night or it would be lost."

"Dumbledore." Severus stated, at their confused looks he continued. "Dumbledore is very skilled with Legilimency and Occlumency. He demanded that I teach Occlumency to Harry last year. Knowing how much we hated each other."

"You need trust for it to work." Lucius commented.

"Exactly I told him that. Not to mention he wanted me to teach Harry by attacking his mind. Dumbledore wanted him to learn fast."

"That way only works is if there with trust and a bond. You need to have a mentoring bond." Tom explained. "If you did it that way, it left Harry opened for Dumbledore, using a pensive and Remembrance Potion to send Harry dreams."

"I didn't know about a bond, if I had I would have refused to teach him, not that my previous refusal was heeded, to begin with."

Harry was thinking and asked, "when we looked in that pensive, and what I remember from looking into Severus' there wasn't any clouding, is clouding a sign of a fake vision or dream?"

"Yes." All of them answered. 

Harry got up and started cursing. "He set Sirius up to die. He set him up." Harry crashed to the floor and started crying.

Severus went and gathered Harry into his arms and carried him back to the couch. Tom produced a calming potion as Lucius wrapped them up in a blanket. Tom and Lucius sat on either side of the pair and wrapped their arms around them as Harry cried himself to sleep. "I am going to enjoy killing him." Tom commented. 

"Me too." Severus answered.


	12. Severus' Turn

Severus glanced up, his hair hiding his face. Harry brushed it away from his face. "Don't be ashamed. We're here for you."

"Severus we won't judge you. We will understand." Lucius added.

Severus knew they were right, also he figured if he wanted Harry to open up, he needed to lead by example, as Lucius and Tom had done. "As far back as I can remember my mother was afraid of my father. He was a mean drunk. At one time, according to my mother, he had a great job, didn't drink, and was a good man. It wasn't until the factory closed down and he couldn't find a job that things started to change. When my mother got pregnant with me, it made the situation worse. Her parents had already disowned her for marrying a Muggle."

"Who has the Prince titles?" Lucius asked.

"I do." Severus said. "My grandfather had no choice, it was either me or a squib cousin. He made me his heir when I got my Potions Mastery. Dumbledore doesn't know." 

"You can take your seats now, without him causing problems." Tom stated.

"Yes, however, I think I will assign them instead." Severus stated. "Back to the past." He inhaled deeply. "My father resented magic. He forbade my mother from using her wand and using magic in general. The first time I had a bout of accidental magic I actually turned all of his booze into tea. I don't remember how old I was, but my mother was able to hide that I did it. It was the first time I saw my father beat my mother. After that, she tried to protect me, but her protection only last long enough for him to knock her unconscious and then he would come after me. The first time I was about five, I think. He gave me a broken collarbone and arm. My mother was able to heal me. She was very good with potions, it was how she made money on the side. She would sell potions. My father didn't know she had a lab hidden down in the basement. If it wasn't for her brewing, we would have starved and lost our home." 

Severus looked lost in the memory. They remained quiet, knowing how hard it was for the man to speak about the past, his feelings or anything deeply personal. "She started teaching me when I was about six. She would take me out to gather ingredients with her. That time with her was the only time I truly ever felt safe until I got to Hogwarts. However, the Marauders didn't make it easy at Hogwarts for me. She always seemed to know when he was going to go on a drunken rampage and would get us away before he arrive back home. It didn't always work out well, at times, his benders would last a few days. He would beat her so badly, it would take a month to recover since he would know if she used a potion. She would take a potion to fix her bones and stuff, but she never hid the bruises. I used to listen to him beg her for forgiveness after each beating. I always wanted to scream at her for allowing him to continue doing that to her, to me, to us."

Harry reached over and took Severus' hand, giving it a quick squeeze. "The Marauders, you know I was almost turned into a werewolf because of Black. Dumbledore refused to punish him beyond a few days detention, while he threatened me with suspension if I spoke about it to anyone."

"They were uncontrolled idiots." Lucius stated, trying not to put all the loathing he had for the Marauders into his voice. He remembered all the embarrassing pranks the Marauders had used on Severus. 

"I got them back." Severus gave them a slight smirk. "Dumbledore knew about the abuse, Poppy had healed me after I arrived back to Hogwarts from my first year Yule holiday. I had a few broken bones and she told Dumbledore. He didn't do anything about it. Even when I asked if I could stay at Hogwarts. He gave me his usual line."

"So each year I would return home for the summer holiday to face my drunken father, who would welcome me with a beating. My mother wouldn't let me return home during the school year. She kept saying it was better. I believed her until during my fifth year, Dumbledore pulled me into his office. My father, in a drunken rage, killed my mother. My mother was sick, very sick and she had been hiding it. He was furious that she hadn't made his dinner. He went out, got drunk, got into a fight at the local pub, hurt the guy badly. Ran when the owner called the police, he got home and took his rage out on my mother. The police arrived as he was panicking about my mother being dead. He died in prison two years later."

"I avoid going home after she died by staying with Lucius or anyone else during the summer. Dumbledore always kept pushing me to go back home. Now I realized he did it for a reason. When I took the mark during my seventh year, he seemed to know. He kept a close eye on me during that year, but I had confirmation he knew when during May of my seventh year, Potter and Black cornered me. They called me the usual names, but Black slipped and said something about my mark. I didn't get all of the comment, but what I did understand was the part where he said "you will get yours. You shouldn't have taken the mark." Potter pulled him away after that. A year later, I heard the prophecy. When I realized the prophecy was about Lily, I panicked. I couldn't allow Lily to be killed."

"I know." Tom stated. "I did try to keep my promise. I asked her three times to move aside. I also realize I wasn't sane at that point. There was a lot of ways I could have handled it, and Dumbledore used it to his advantage."

"He did. I agreed to protect Harry after you disappeared. Dumbledore was very determined to have me protect Harry." Severus stated.

Lucius thought for a few minutes. "You were a potion master by then?"

"Yes." Severus answered.

"No." Tom's eyes went big.

"Yes, I think so." Lucius commented.

"Care to share with the rest of us?" Harry asked.

"I think Dumbledore knew that Severus was the Prince heir. I believe he was counting on Severus giving control of his seats to Dumbledore, and since he tied Severus to you, Harry, that when Harry confronted Marvolo on a battlefield, that both of you would die and he would remain in control." Lucius stated.

"It would fit with what we know about him. Except I never took the seats. I know he has asked me about them in the past, but I always said that they would remain empty." Severus answered. "I even kept the vaults separated. If Dumbledore's plans had worked, he would have never gotten into the vaults or gain access to the seats as the next in line is my second or third cousin, the one from the squib, he has a magical son attending the Salem Institute."

They all looked at Harry. It was his turn now, and Harry shifted in his seat.


	13. Harry

Harry shifted closer to the end of the couch he was sharing with Severus. He stared into space for a few minutes, gathering his thoughts. "I don't remember a time where I wasn't being tortured in one way or another at my relatives house. As far back as I can remember I always had some type of chores, usually ones that resulted in me getting a beating because they weren't done fast enough or well enough for them."

"What type of chores?" Tom quietly asked. He didn't want to interrupt but felt they needed to understand more about Harry's life. 

"Every chore. I cooked, cleaned, gardened, landscaped, painted, laundry, even had to clean out Dudley's room. I didn't even have a room. I had a cupboard." Harry curled a bit into himself. "For years I thought my name was Freak or Boy. It wasn't until I went to school that I learned my name was Harry Potter." 

"You know they got money to take care of me, and I wore my whale of a cousin's clothes, I never had my eyes checked, and the glasses came out of a donation bin. I barely got food, I was so thankful for school because at least there I got a meal a day."

"We can fix that." Severus had wondered why Harry was so much smaller than his year mates. James and Lily weren't short.

"Vernon, my uncle, made it very clear I wasn't wanted. He loathed magic, the very idea of it was repulsive to him. The word magic was forbidden from being spoken in the house. Dudley, their son, wasn't even allowed to watch anything that might have Merlin or magic in it. That is the only thing they ever denied the prat."

Harry inhaled, deeply, wiped the moisture from his eyes and finally exhaled. "Dudley is a bully, he and his gang of friends enjoy tormenting animal and beating up anyone smaller than them. They used to play a game called 'Harry Hunting'. It's where I learned to run fast and dodge. It's how I am able to do well in DADA, I learned very young how to dodge, how to land, and how to survive the pain."

"My aunt, while she never actually hit me, was crueler in a lot of ways. She would give me these huge lists of chores, Vernon would add the outdoor stuff, and set these impossible time limits. A great example is clean the whole house in an hour and have a full dinner on the table in two. I don't mean a quick meal either, she would expect things like a roast with mashed, fresh veggies, and dessert. She would then gleefully inform my uncle how I slacked off and didn't get my chores done on time, or say I sassed her."

"I tried to make them proud. I worked hard in school. I thought if I brought home good grades they would love me, be proud of me like they were of their son. I showed my aunt my report card, she was furious. She started screaming at me, how I cheated, how dare I do better than her son, how I was a disgrace. She threw me into my cupboard. When Vernon got home, I heard her screaming at him to do something. He did. It was the first time he used a knife on me. He warned me that if I ever brought home a report card or anything that was better than his son's I would regret it." 

"It got worse after the letters started arriving. I didn't know what was going on, all I knew was these owls and letters were just arriving. Let me back up a bit. Before I knew about magic, I had some cases of what I know was accidental magic. One time I turned my teacher's hair blue. My aunt was furious about it, I earned a week in my cupboard with just stale bread and water for food. Next time, I apparated to the school roof trying to get away from Dudley and his gang. I had been thinking I just wanted someplace safe to hide. The school was furious, and my Uncle used the belt and knife on me for that. About a month before my first Hogwarts' letter arrived, I was taken to the zoo with them. Not that they wanted me to go, but they had no choice. Mrs. Figg had fallen and broken her leg and couldn't watch me."

"So I went to the zoo, followed them around, and when we got to the reptile house, Dudley made an ass out of himself by demanding the Boa Constructor in the enclosure obey him. When it didn't, he got annoyed and moved on to the next exhibit. I, however, looked at the snake, and I didn't realize it but I apologized to it for my cousin. The snake surprised me and winked back. We didn't have much of a conversation as Dudley realized the snake was now active and pushed me out of the away, and started banging on the glass. I got annoyed, the glass disappeared, and the snake escaped, thanked me, and slithered away, and Dudley was now sealed in the enclosure. My Uncle was furious but that didn't stop him from making a scene, talking about suing the zoo. The zoo gave them back their money, and gave them a lifetime access." 

"My uncle reminded me when we got home what happens when I used magic, or as he called it freakiness. The day my letter arrived, I never even got to open it. Dudley started whining about me having a letter. After that, they decided, since the letters and owls wouldn't leave them alone, it was time to run. I never understood that. Why? They hate magic, yet ran away to hide me from Dumbledore finding me. I always thought it was because they didn't want to lose their house elf, or me to learn magic, it wasn't until this past summer right before my uncle killed me that they informed me why they ran. They didn't run because they were afraid of wizards, they didn't run because they were afraid of magic, or even being punished for what they did. They ran for the simple reason of money. They were afraid the money they were getting from the Muggle government and from Dumbledore would stop. They figured that if they could get Dumbledore to actually come and meet with them, they would be able to get more money."

The puzzled faces of the three men let Harry knew they were just as confused about it as he was. "They aren't very bright. I mean, if Dumbledore didn't care how I was treated, if Dumbledore never checked on me, why would he care about stopping the money. They knew I had no place else to go, and Dumbledore had made it clear that I was going to be there for their protection as well as my own." 

"Hagrid is the one who got me. He hit the door to the dump we were hiding out at, knocking it off its hinges. My uncle had a rifle and I was surprised no one got shot. Anyway, Hagrid got upset about how they were disrespecting Dumbledore and how my cousin was making a pig out of eating the birthday cake Hagrid had brought for me to eat, never did have a bite of it. So he gave my piggy of a cousin a pig's tail."

"That is why you have it carved on your back?" Lucius was in shock. 

"Yes. Hagrid took me shopping, and all he did was praise Dumbledore, bad mouth Slytherin, and it went from there. No matter how often I begged not to be returned, I was. Vernon and Petunia were scared enough to give me my cousin's second bedroom to sleep in, but it just a bigger cell. They had numerous locks on the door, a cat flap installed to allow them to pass food through. Even put bars on the window."

"I know the yearly adventures were Dumbledore's ways of testing me. I didn't, however, know my best friends were being paid by him. I didn't know it was all fake. Do you want to know why my uncle killed me? It wasn't because I did magic. It wasn't because I did anything, he killed me because the Order threatened him with how I was treated. Arthur Weasley and Mad-Eye, with Molly urging them, approached my Uncle at King's Cross and warned them about hurting me. Told my uncle I was to write to them every three days or they would come and check on me. My uncle was beyond furious. He got angrier and angrier as he drove home. I barely made it into the house before I was sailing across the hall. Sadly, my aunt had the kitchen door closed, I went through the window, the glass from the window embedded into my neck. Blood was spewing out, my aunt was screaming, and my uncle actually laughed, as I died. I woke up in a ditch, no idea where I was. I didn't know what happened. I spent that day trying to find a way to clean myself up, figure out where I was, and get some food. That night, I curled up in a box, that I found in an alley. When I woke up I thought I was a huge cat. You know the rest."

"Oh, Harry." The three men had tears in their eyes. Severus pulled Harry back towards him. "I am so sorry. I can't believe I never saw."

"I didn't want anyone to see. How do you think people would react if they ever discovered the slightly tinted version of the truth that Dumbledore would release if it got out that I was abused. People would go on a Muggle hunting rampage. Dumbledore knew I wasn't going to tell anyone. Dumbledore kept people he trusted near me for a reason. Ron's job was to make sure no one was to get close to him but those Dumbledore approved off, his second job was to keep him from studying. Granger's job was to make sure I got passing grades, and make sure she was seen as my friend. I think he has plans for her to be the first Muggle-born Minister." 

"We can deal with plans like that later. Harry, we are here for you. I know you are healing your physical scars, but we are here to help heal your emotional ones." Tom was already planning on ways to make those three Muggles pay. He would find a way around the Muggle prison system. He would ask Severus advice, as he knew the man would want to make them pay also, and Severus was very creative with his potions. 

"Harry, you said that the Weasley boys tried to help, is there anyone else who tried?" Lucius was running his hand over Harry's arm. He could feel some of the scars.

"Neville, but Ron has scared him off a lot. He has done that to all the Lions." Harry cuddled into Severus, Tom summoned a blanket and laid it over Harry. 

"Harry, you know none it was your fault?" Severus gave Harry a kiss on his temple. 

"Yes, I know. Took me a long time to admit it, but I knew. It's Dumbledore's and my relatives. I could also blame the neighbors for ignoring it. I could blame the teachers for listening to my relatives and ignoring my appearance, I could even blame the wizarding world for not wondering why I was so small and skinny when I arrived, but I know no one expects a family that tries to appear as normal as my relatives to be abusive. Actually, I take that back. The neighbors should have wondered, it wasn't like my relatives were subtle about it."

"They will pay." Tom looked at Lucius and Severus, seeing their agreement.

"Yes, they will. I was thinking one of Severus' more creative potions baked into some goodies, along with things like shampoo and soap, me flashing into personally deliver it to them." He let a yawn escape him, and turned into Chaos, and went to sleep.

"So who knows how to bake?" Lucius asked.


	14. Fawkes

Fawkes was watching Dumbledore closely. The man had been in a rotten mood since the Aurors brought him back to Hogwarts. They also refused to let him leave without an Auror escort. He and Hat had enjoyed watching the man smash some of his trinkets when he realized he couldn't meet with his Order at their headquarters.

He waited until Dumbledore finally left his office. "I thought he would never leave." Headmaster Black spoke to the room. 

"Me either. The man is almost gone if that little temper tantrum was any indication." Headmaster Dippet was looking forward to seeing the man removed. 

"Soon he will be." Hat spoke up. "Our heirs will make sure of it."

"Judging from what we are hearing, he was almost arrested. He could be arrested soon. Some of those Aurors he had working for him have been removed from the department." Headmaster Burke added what he had heard.

"Soon." Fawkes trilled out. "Soon, we will have our Hogwarts back to her full glory. No more house rivalries because of some fashion blunder decided that is a good way to run a school."

"No more spells cast at me either." Hat muttered. "I will be demanding a school wide resort after he is fully removed."

"What do our heirs have planned?" Salazar Slytherin made an appearance in Headmaster Black's frame.

"They will be bonding, soon, I hope. I will be attending a Death Eater meeting. It will be nice to renew my friendship with Nagini." Fawkes was looking forward to seeing the true familiar of Salazar Slytherin. 

"I am glad I talked her into becoming Tom's familiar. I know he hasn't had it easy, but he needed someone until Harry came along." Salazar glanced at his wife, Rowena. She had told him what Nagini would need to do. 

"They all needed Harry. Lucius still doesn't know he is an heir." Rowena rose from her seat.

"Neither does Severus." Godric added. "I wonder if they will be surprised."

"I would think so." Helga joined her husband, Godric. "Dumbledore has hidden so much."

"Harry will make them get tested." Rowena sent Fawkes a smirk. She knew Fawkes would make sure.

"So for now, we keep our eyes and ears opened. I don't trust that man." Headmistress Nichols rose from her chair. "I will gather the rest and inform them of what they need to do." She left her frame.

"Poppy submitted the abuse reports, she will need to be watched. I don't trust him not to try and do something to her." Helga knew Fawkes couldn't watch Poppy and Dumbledore at the same time. "We will need to get another portrait in the Infirmary."

"I am usually in the frame in the main part of the Infirmary. I can mention it to her when no one is around." Madam Irisson stated. She was a healer in training when Helga taught, and became the full-time healer when Helga passed over. 

"We need to get the house elves to watch the students. Make sure no potions end up in their food, nothing in their common or dorm rooms." Hat added.

"Agreed. Dobby isn't bound to Dumbledore, but he is crazy. We need one bound to Hogwarts." Headmistress Zelpher moved over to the same frame as Headmaster Dippet to look down on Dumbledore's desk. "Still doesn't realize your frame isn't frozen?"

"No. The man is an idiot." Headmaster Dippet responded. "I know the perfect elf. We will need Severus to give the command."

"I will inform them." Fawkes trilled. "They are still with their mates."

"I say we also drop big hints to the investigators." Hat commented. "They are looking in the right areas, but they will need to find some of his hidden accounts." 

"True, he has them in the Muggle world." Rowena thought for a few minutes. "Maybe see if Lucius can get someone sensitive to magic here, with a curse breaker. That young Bill Weasley is very good." 

"Dumbledore wouldn't expect a Weasley to turn him either." Salazar liked how his wife could be so Slytherin. 

Fawkes flew to the Dumbledore's desk. He started sending everything to the floor. When he was done, he looked around. "Knock some books out of place." Headmaster Black suggested. "Not completely out of the bookcase, but enough to make him think someone was searching."

Fawkes obeyed and listened to the other suggestions. "We need to do his quarters too." Hat jumped into the air and landed on the small table in the middle of the room. "Fawkes, are there any quills?"

"Yes." Fawkes picked one up. 

"Good put it on the table with some parchment. Use the quill and make some marks on it. No ink."

Everyone smirked as they understood what Hat was doing. It would look like someone copied something down, making Dumbledore wonder what they found out. 

"He's heading back, Goblins just kicked him out of the rooms they were using. Dumbledore didn't want to answer their questions. Questions about missing funds." The Fat Lady entered the closest frame to the doorway.

"Thank you, Juliet." Headmaster Burke grinned at his wife. "I will visit you in a bit." 

Everyone moved back into place as Dumbledore stormed into his office. He looked at the mess his office was in. "Who was in here?"

"No one entered." Headmaster Black answered he loved that they were all able to answer that question truthfully. "You have been the only witch or wizard in here since you last left." Loopholes got to love them.

Dumbledore began to look closely and he noticed his bookcases looked like someone went through them. He knew someone had clearly been searching his desktop since everything was on the floor. When he finally noticed a quill and parchment on the small table, he frowned. Someone had clearly been in here. He only kept candy on that table. Someone used a masking spell. He knew it wasn't Potter, as he had warning alarms if the boy showed up in Hogwarts, especially on his door. He knew it wasn't Severus as the man was still searching for potion ingredients. 

He yawned. He was so tired. Fawkes, he noticed as looking at him. "I need to go to Gringotts." Fawkes flashed out, leaving Dumbledore behind. "Stupid bird. I ought to roast him." 

Dumbledore never noticed all the Headmasters and Headmistresses glaring at him for his words.


	15. Chapter 15

The weeks were clearly taking their toll on Dumbledore. The release of the information about the abuse, the yearly events at Hogwarts, the DADA professors, Binns, and Sybill, were all released. Dumbledore couldn't go out in public, his office was filled with howlers, pranks, Aurors, goblins. He tried to hide in different areas of the school but everyone always found him. He had tried to go to the Ministry to get some control, but all his Order member were on suspension, the ones who owed him favors reminded him that those favors had been paid in full many times. 

They couldn't hold Order meetings so Dumbledore was trying to gather intelligence from people but no one wanted to be seen with him. He couldn't have meetings at Hogwarts, he had no properties he could use, he couldn't use the Burrow as they were being evicted to pay what they owed Harry Potter. 

He was barely sleeping, and he still couldn't figure out who was getting into his office to play those pranks. The house elves cleaned his office and quarter but he was still getting pranked. 

He lost his position on the ICW and they were now looking into his affairs. He wondered why fate had turned against him. He was doing everything for the greater good, why didn't everyone believe him. He knew what was best for their world. He had been leading it for over fifty years, he had guided them, helped them, showed them the path they should take. Now, he was getting everyone yelling at him. He even got rotten food thrown at him last time he went to Diagon Alley. He knew it was only a matter of time before he lost the Headmaster position. 

"Albus, the goblins want to see you." Minerva informed him as he was sitting at the Head Table. He sighed. That was another thing. His staff barely spoke to him after they read about the students being abused. Poppy, in a staff meeting, pointed out who was the worse ones out of the victims. Minerva informed everyone how she had warned him about the muggles when they wondered about Harry. Everyone believed the boy to be dead.

"I will go and see what they want." He dragged his bone weary body out of the Great Hall and headed to rooms that the goblins were using for their audits. He knew they were working on the inventory, and he knew they would find the Founders items, some items he had removed from the Potter, Prince, Motrin, and other vaults. They already discovered numerous students who should have been informed they were heirs and entitled to the family vaults. 

He glanced at one of the ghosts. He smirked. Maybe it was time to play dead. He had property overseas. He could start in a new country. He really didn't want to go to Azkaban. He would need a new identity, so how could he get one? The goblins wouldn't help. He knew no dark creature would either. No light family would know how. "Forget it." A voice commented to his right. 

Dumbledore looked and the Bloody Baron was there. "What do you mean?"

"You know. You won't be able to escape this." The Baron laughed. "I can't wait to see you land at rock bottom." He floated away, laughing.

Dumbledore ignored the Baron and began to plot.  
___________________________________________________________________________

"What do you mean my vault is sealed?" Dumbledore demanded from the teller.

"It's sealed until the audits of Hogwarts, her accounts, your former and current students vaults are finished being audited. Right now, you owe us 1,526 Galleon, 39 Sickles, and 2 Knuts. Your lands and house have been seized until the completion of the investigation into your crimes."

"I wasn't made aware of this information. I demand to speak to someone in charge." 

"I can send for the one who ordered it. Madam Bones, Minister Fudge, Head of the Accounting Department Rocksplitter, Supervisory Account Manager Grind, Account Manager Sawtooth, and your Account Manager Ricspit. They are the ones who ordered your vault be sealed."

Dumbledore knew the goblin was speaking louder than normal enabling everyone to hear his business, which would mean it would be in the paper. Once in the paper, he would be getting questioned about going into his vaults. "I will speak to Madam Bones, myself." He stormed out of Gringotts and hoped he wouldn't get hit with rotten fruit again.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Lucius, Severus, Harry, and Tom were sitting down reading through all the different reports. The Death Eaters had filled in the vacant positions in the Ministry, and with Dumbledore being investigated, they were working on getting old classes returned with skilled professors and the apprenticeship program returned.

Lucius laid down a letter he had been reading. "Narcissa agreed. So the divorce will be finalized by the end of the month." 

"What is the bad news, you have that face." Tom looked at Lucius.

"She wants to plan the bonding ceremony." The three men groaned as Harry just looked confused. 

"I'm not wearing anything with color." Severus wasn't going to be seen in white or some other strange color Narcissa would produce. 

"Why do we need someone to plan it?" Harry would never understand wizards. 

Lucius knew it was his job to explain this. Severus and Tom would follow Harry on the idea just a simple bonding with a few witnesses. "It can be a simple ceremony, but Narcissa will want to make it special for us. She will want to have flowers, dinner, dancing, even have us in dress robes. We do have to think about my position in the Wizengamot and our connections. The Death Eaters and supporters will also want to be invited."

Harry looked horrified. "Oh sweet Vlad, no."

"I will make sure she tones it down. You might have to wear green or blue robes, Severus. I think all of us can get away with dark colored robes." Lucius knew Narcissa and if she phrased it right, she would agree.

"I can always speak to her." Harry flashed a bit of fang. 

"I'm sure I can arrange it." Lucius wasn't sure Narcissa would understand what to do with Harry. While she was a Slytherin, Harry's abilities to handle Tom made him know he would run circles around Narcissa, making her slightly closer to being like her sister Bella.

______________________________________________

Severus, with Chaos, was heading towards the Great Hall when he saw Dumbledore heading down the staircase that led to the lower basement of the Castle. He looked down at Chaos. Chaos starting to follow Dumbledore, Severus cast a quick silencing charm on his feet and followed. 

They heard a door creak open and saw some type of light fill the hall. They crept closer. They peered into the room and saw Dumbledore preparing a bed, there was a potion on the side table. Severus wasn't sure what potion it was but he didn't like what he was seeing. The potion was in a clear glass bottle, one he used all the time for his potions. He couldn't see the color clearly from where he was, he could tell it was green, so he thought a sleeping potion. He knew the man hadn't been sleeping well. Dumbledore was rearranging the bed linens. Dumbledore put his teddy bear on the bed. Severus realized what the man was going to do, and while Dumbledore wasn't paying attention, he switched the bottle, with a basic sleep potion. Once he had it, he touched Chaos and they retreated. 

Severus made his way back to his quarters. He uncorked the potion and smelled it. "He was going to pull a Snow White."

Harry transformed. "What do you mean?"

"This potion will allow him to sleep, without aging, for twenty years unless someone found him and did the counter."

"Which was why he was down there." 

"Exactly. I wonder what he hid down there? He knows about his money and property. "

"We can find out tomorrow when he wakes up thinking it's been twenty years." 

Severus smirked. "I have an idea. We put up cobwebs, add some dust, age his clothes, and the bed linens."

"I will get Fawkes to make sure he stays asleep while we work."


	16. Chapter 16

The Sorting Hat got Minerva to agree to their idea, especially after Severus showed her the potion and where Dumbledore was now sleeping. Minerva got the rest of the staff to agree. Soon all four heads of house were down in the room Dumbledore was sleeping in. Fawkes was perched above the man on the headboard. The Sorting Hat was on top of Fawkes' head, while Chaos was assisting in spreading the dust and cobwebs around. 

"I think Chaos will need a bath after this." Minerva was holding a few Daily Prophets in her hand that she was transfiguring. They would be placed outside of the Daily Prophet office with a charm to only allow those in the room to see them, including Dumbledore. 

"I finished charming the armor, it has rust on it." Filius looked around the room. "I will do the metal in here."

"Ghosts and portraits are all set." Severus informed everyone. "We also have the house elves in agreement."

"Severus, I'm wondering if I make his joints a bit stiff, will it be normal with that potion?" Poppy gave Severus a smirk.

"He won't know. The potion doesn't list medical reaction."

"Leave some little animal skeletons around." The Sorting Hat added. Fawkes squawked. "Bird brains says add spying charm on the room and around the castle."

_______________________________________________________________________

 

Dumbledore slowly opened his eyes. His body was sore, but he wasn't surprised, after all, old age and sleeping in the same position for twenty years was a lot to ask of an old body. He sat up and started coughing. Cobwebs were everywhere. He looked down and his clothes, bed linen, even his beloved teddy bear was all holey and ratty looking. The room even smelled musty.

He wished he had thought to store a pain potion down here. He got out of bed and went to find his hidden clothes, only to find them rotted. Damn rodents, ruined his clothes. He cast a quick repair spell on his clothing and cleaned himself up. 

He went to open the door, but it was stuck. He knew it wasn't locked, as he could feel it wanting to move. He looked around and noticed all the rust on the hinges. He sighed, he really didn't think of that either. He pulled out his wand and banished hinges, jumped aside in surprise when the door started to fall towards him.

He stepped into the hall only to be engulfed by a huge cobweb. He wondered what was going on. He wasn't too worried, however, most people didn't even know about this part of the Castle twenty years ago. He cleaned himself up again and headed up to the main area of the Castle. 

Dumbledore cleaned as he went, and his gut was telling him something wasn't right, but he ignored it. He had before and it worked out. He got to the top of the stairs that opened into the main area of Hogwarts. The place was filled with cobwebs, the armor was rusted and broken, the huge doors were leading to outside were broken. He paled, what had he done. 

He looked around and all the paintings were empty, he couldn't see any ghosts. The place was filled with dust and cobwebs. He heard a crunch and looked down, he was a bit sick. He had stepped on a corpse of some small little animal. 

"Hello?" 

He waited to see if he heard anything. "A person, a living being." An excited voice was heard faintly. He was suddenly surrounded by ghosts. "Look, a breathing being."

"It's been so long." Nearly Headless Nick reached out and touched Dumbledore. "He is alive."

"After so many years, are they going to reopen Hogwarts?" The Friar inquired.

"Oh, we must get ready." 

"Yes, yes, we must. We can't have them thinking we won't welcome them back." 

"I told you it wouldn't work." The Baron glared at Dumbledore. "We have a lot of work to do." The ghosts disappeared before he could ask them anything. 

Dumbledore wondered what happened while he was sleeping. Had all his work been undone? Had everyone abandoned Hogwarts because there wasn't any money in her vaults? Where were the students getting their lessons from? Who was teaching them? Had the dark won and destroyed Hogwarts?

Voldemort wouldn't destroy Hogwarts, but another dark lord might have. Was Harry Potter truly dead and didn't defeat Voldemort? Worse was Harry the new Dark Lord? 

He headed out of Hogwarts and towards an apparition point. He had to get answers and fast. He needed to find out the date first, and go from there. He ignored the joint pain as he walked as fast as he was able. He was hoping there might be a few alive that were from the Order. 

He landed in Diagon Alley, he ignored going into the Leaky Cauldron and went directly to the Daily Prophet. He gasped it was 25 June 2018. He did it. He wondered how many would know who he was. He glanced at the headline, nothing interesting. Just a week of hot weather. He needed to find answers. He looked around, nothing had really changed during the time he was sleeping. 

"Excuse me, can you tell me why Hogwarts is closed?" He saw a young man. The young man was about school age, he thought.

"I don't know. I never went there." Harry informed him. "I was homeschool, as well as most of my friends."

"I see. What about You-Know-Who?"

"Who?" 

"He-You-Can't-Be-Named." 

"No idea who you mean. Are you off your meds?" Harry asked a bit louder than normal.

"I'm just a bit confused." Dumbledore could see a few people looking at him. He tilted his head. 

"Is there a problem?" Auror Dawlish arrived. 

"Mr. Dawlish, I'm surprised at how young you look. As I was asking my young friend for some information, I was hoping you could tell me about Hogwart and You-Know-Who."

"He asked me too." Harry added. "He said he was confused."

"Indeed, I'm a little behind the times, as it were. After all, twenty years is a long time." 

"Twenty years for what?" Auror Dawlish could see a crowd gathering. He knew people were very unhappy with Dumbledore.

"Why since I've been around. I'm sure you remember me. I'm Albus Dumbledore. I used to be the Headmaster of Hogwarts, but she is in ruins now. Well, not ruins but sadly neglected. I need to reclaim my title as Headmaster, and get students back into her." 

"I see. Why don't you come with me." 

"Where to, my boy? I really don't have much time. I need to figure out what is going on. I need to get in touch with the latest Minister. I will need to claim the Potter seats, and well, I have a lot to do. I really need to get students back into Hogwarts, how else can I regain control?" Dumbledore wondered what was going on. He would have never said something like that.

"I believe you need to see a healer." The mind part was conveniently missing.

Harry saw Dumbledore was still holding the newspaper that he had coated with truth spells and serums. Dumbledore wouldn't be able to release it until the sticking charm wore off. "Why do you need control?" Harry gave Dumbledore an innocent smile.

"Why how else am I to guide the wizarding world to the path I have selected for them. I have been guiding them where I have wanted them to be for over fifty years. I even created Voldemort to make people fear the dark aspect of magic. Though Voldemort didn't obey me either, that is why he needs to be punished. I can't have my pawns disobeying. Potter, Snape, Voldemort, all disobeyed me, such bad boys. It's why I left them to be abused, so they would turn to me. I need to punish -"

Johnston stunned Dumbledore, as the crowd was getting ready to start casting curses at Dumbledore. "Get him to St. Mungos. I will bring Madam Bones and the Minister." 

The crowd watched Dumbledore being taken away. Harry headed towards the Daily Prophet to pick up the fake newspapers that only he and Dumbledore could see. He did like Parseltongue spells. 

________________________________________________________

As soon as Dumbledore exited Hogwarts, the staff and students got started on cleaning up Hogwarts. Filius and Minerva began to undo the charms and transfiguration around Hogwarts. When Chaos reappeared, Severus and the staff headed to the staff room to watch the show. 

"So he is headed to the Janus Thickery Unit. Severus, who was the boy speaking to Dumbledore?"

"Someone I paid to do the prank." Severus answered. "He is a bit older than he looks. He might be making a few appearances around here, as I agreed to give him lessons on potions."

Chaos curled up on Severus' lap and started purring.


	17. Chapter 17

Harry and Severus were sitting, with Marvolo, in the library, reading, when Lucius strode in. Lucius was wearing the biggest smile. One that no one had ever seen before. Lucius lost his pureblood facade in favor of being truly and honestly happy. "Amelia and Cornelius signed off on my divorce. As of noon today, I'm a divorced and yet engaged man."

"So when do we get bonded?" Harry still didn't care for Narcissa's plans.

"Next month, if Narcissa is anything to judge by. She wants to get bonded in two weeks and then two weeks later have ours." Lucius sighed. "Oh, more good news, Dumbledore is permanently committed to the Janis Thackery Unit, his little pawns are going to face a full Wizengamot session to decide their sentence."

"That was fast." Severus didn't think Dumbledore would remain at St. Mungos. He honestly believed Dumbledore's cronies would have gotten the man released and back at Hogwarts.

"It was all Amelia's work. He went on a long rant about how he had to get back to Hogwarts, she got authorized to use a mild truth serum."

"Which I bet worked really well with the truth serum already in his system from the newspaper if I remember what Severus told us about truth serums." Harry looked at Severus. 

"It does, so he must have given her everything." Severus knew Amelia was a fair and honest person and no one would question her results.

"She had the goblins send her more information for confirmation, but the Order is finished, so is Dumbledore." Lucius wanted to throw a party. 

Marvolo was a bit surprised, they had won. They hadn't had to go to war, they didn't have to fight battles, spill magical blood. "Surprised, aren't you?" Severus quietly commented.

"Yes, I am. I was expecting a war. I was expecting that we would have to fight a battle at Hogwarts to gain control her." 

"No, just got a furry hairball on our side." Lucius had worked out a fake identity for Harry to resume his life. "I also established your new name and life, Harry. Severus will be offered the position of Headmaster, Minerva has agreed to step down, she wrote out a long detailed account of Dumbledore and his actions. She wants to remain as the head of Gryffindor."

"So I can return to Hogwarts, finish my education and get my apprentice finished, but what about our bonding?"

"I'm the new Law Professor and Marvolo can take DADA or whatever position he wants, including Deputy. The Board wants new faces and new classes." Lucius had been working on that for years, so he was able to get everything in place after lunch. "The Board was in agreement after I provided them with a copy of what Amelia discovered."

"Our new names?" Marvolo began to think about what position he might desire. Severus has Headmaster, but he wanted to remain on the Wizengamot. He would need to remove the curse from the DADA position. 

"I believe magic will provide after we are bonded." The vast number of titles and power that the four of them had would enable magic to provide a suitable name for Harry and Marvolo.

________________________________________________________________________

"No, no, no." Harry looked around. "I'm not wearing that."

"I am in agreement with Harry. I won't be wearing it either." Severus was trying not to cringe. 

"Cissy, I told you no other colors but what you know Severus would wear." Lucius knew his ex-wife wanted to make a show for their bonding. While hers had to be low-keyed, due to the divorce, theirs could be a bit bigger. 

"I'm not wearing that color." Marvolo entered the room. "What happened to the robes we already decided on?"

"She wanted some change." Harry turned away from the clothes, transformed into Chaos, jumped onto Severus' lap, curled up and went to sleep. They were going to be bonded in two days. Severus was officially now the Headmaster. 

_____________________________________________________________________

 

Minerva had agreed to bond them. She had been a bit surprised to see Harry, but she did agree to keep their secrets. The hall was full, most of them were Death Eaters, Ministry employees, and elected officials. Minerva, Poppy, and Filius were the only Hogwarts staff present. 

The four of them were dressed in matching Slytherin Green robes, with silver thread at the sleeves. They all wore black pants, black dragon hide boots, and white silk shirt under the robes. 

Minerva was dressed in her clan colors. She stood on a raised dais. "Friends, family, loved ones. We are all here today to see four people, Lucius, Severus, Marvolo, and Harrison (they decided to use that name for Harry) join hands and be bound together by their love, now and forever. Before we begin the ceremony, we will turn this place into sacred ground. As I cast the circle, please take a moment to visualize loving, positive energy for our intended bonded." Minerva cast the circle. "The circle has been cast, and this is now a sacred space. We will now take a moment to consecrate the rings."

They each held a ring in their hands as Minerva consecrates the rings with the four elements. Harry had lightning, Marvolo had air, Severus had fire, and Lucius had earth. 

Minerva faced the group of gathered to witness the bonding. "The circle itself is an infinite thing. It is magical and never-ending, never changing and yet always adaptable, a ring with no beginning and no conclusion. Like the circle, true love itself is infinite. It goes on, knowing no boundaries or restrictions. It flourishes and blooms in the light and in the dark, laying down no ultimatums, making no demands at all. Love, in its infinite form, is something that cannot be forced. It cannot be taken away. It is a gift we give to ourselves, and an honor we give to others from the bottom of our hearts and souls. When four people come together and give one another this gift, this most sacred gift of all, it is certain the universe is sitting back and smiling upon us, laughing and showering us with every possible blessing."

"Today is a day to celebrate the love of those who stand in front of me. They are four people who are the halves of a whole. Four souls, coming together to form one single being; four hearts, beating in a single rhythm. They are together as one, and so they will now light a candle of unity, to show the universe that they indeed are one light burning brightly in the darkness." 

Lucius, Severus, Marvolo, and Harry, gave Minerva the rings to hold so that they could light the single candle on the small stand covered with a rune soaked covered green cloth. Using their wands, they light the candle together.

"Today, we ask that the infinite light of the divine shine upon this union. In that spirit, I offer a blessing to this ceremony. Blessed be this marriage with the gifts from the east -- new beginnings that come each day with the rising sun, communication of the heart, mind, body, and soul. Blessed be this marriage with the gifts of the south -- the light of the heart, the heat of passion, and the warmth of a loving home. Blessed be this marriage with the gifts of the west -- the rushing excitement of a raging river, the soft and pure cleansing of a rainstorm, and a commitment as deep as the ocean itself. Blessed be this marriage with the gifts of the north -- a solid foundation on which to build your lives, abundance and growth of your home, and the stability to be found by holding one another at the end of the day."

"Lucius, Severus, Marvolo, Harrison, these four simple blessings will help you on your journey that begins today. However, they are only tools. They are tools which you must use together to create the light, the strength, the infinite energy now and forever of a love you both so richly deserve."

Minerva laid the four rings around the unity candle. "Now, I bid you look into one another's eyes and hearts. Harrison, please place the rings on their fingers. Do you promise to show your mates, your honor and fidelity, to share her laughter and joy, to support and stand by them in times of difficulty, to dream and hope together with them, and to spend each day loving them more than the day before?"

"I do." Harry placed the rings on their fingers.

HPs: Marvolo, please give Harrison his ring. Do you, Lucius, Severus, Marvolo, promise to show Harrison, your honor and fidelity, to share his hopes and dreams, to laugh with him and share endless days of joy, to stand side by side with him in times of trouble, and to spend each day loving him more than the day before?

"I do." The three responded as one. 

"The vows of love have been spoken. I ask you now to cross your hands over each other and take one another's hands." Minerva wrapped the cord around the grooms' wrists, binding them together loosely and tying a knot.

"Lucius, Marvolo, Severus, Harrison, this cord ribbons symbolizes so much. It is your life, your love, and the eternal connection that the four of you have found with one another. The ties of this handfasting are not formed by these ribbons, or even by the knots connecting them. They are formed instead by your vows, by your pledge, your souls, and your four hearts, now bound together as one."

"You may kiss." Harry smirked as quick kisses were exchanged. Minerva unwrapped cord without untying the knot. "Please turn to face your friends and family who love you. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Peverell family." 

The witnesses rose, bowed, and returned to their seats. "Now, we will dismiss this sacred space. As I close the circle, please send all of your loving energy towards our newly handfast couple, so that they may begin their life together with all of your blessings and warm wishes." Minerva walks around the circle, dismissing the quarters. "The circle has been dismissed. Friends, please take a moment to congratulate the Peverell Family!"

Minerva signed off on the bonding certificate, she knew Dumbledore was going to have a fit when he saw the paper in the morning with a copy of the marriage certificate. She hoped that his mind healers would be up to hearing him rant about Lord Harrison Charlus Peverell and his spouses.


End file.
